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JOHN  B.  McFERRIN 


A  BIOGRAPHY. 


BY  O.  P.  FITZGERALD,  D.D., 

Editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate. 


Fifth  Thousand. 


NaSHVIJ/LS,  TeI3>.  : 

Publishing  House  of  the  M.  F,    Chupcm,  South. 

J.  D    Barbae,  A  c  e  >t  r. 

i838. 


\jar\crv 


932-  6 


fST/i 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18S;s, 

BY  J.  A.  McFERRIX, 

in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington 


NOTE. 

Considerations  sacred  and  imperative  have  in- 
duced the  writer  of  this  Biography,  busied  and  bur- 
dened with  official  labors  that  engross  his  time  and 
heavily  tax  his  strength,  to  hasten  in  its  preparation 
beyond  his  first  intention.  His  supreme  purpose  has 
been  to  make  such  a  book  as  would  glorify  God  and 
do  good,  while  fulfilling  a  friend's  request  and  dis- 
charging a  labor  of  love. 

(3) 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

PROLOGUE 7 

I.  NATIVITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT 11 

II.  A  GENEALOGICAL  GLANCE 15 

III.  LOVE,  EMIGRATION,  AND  WAR 22 

IV.  A  GREAT  CHANGE 28 

V.  THE  BOY  CHRISTIAN 33 

VI.  THE  MARTIAL  METEMPSYCHOSIS 39 

VII.  GREEN  AND  McFERRIN 45 

VIII.  ADMITTED  INTO  THE  CONFERENCE 50 

IX.  HIS  FIRST  CIRCUIT 55 

X.  HIS  SECOND  YEAR 59 

XI.  AMONG  THE  INDIANS 62 

XII.  PREACHES  TO  WHITE  PEOPLE  AGAIN 71 

XIII.  A  STATIONED  PREACHER 75 

XIV.  A  RISING  MAN 80 

XV.  GOES  TO  NASHVILLE 86 

XVI.  ANTITHETIC  EXPERIENCES 93 

XVII.  AN  UNEXPECTED  TURN 104 

XVIII.  RIDING  THE  CUMBERLAND  DISTRICT 109 

XIX.  GEN.  JACKSON  AND  THE  PREACHERS 115 

XX.  BECOMES  AN  EDITOR 118 

XXI.  UNDER  FULL  HEADWAY 129 

XXII.  BELLIGERENT  AND  MOVING 137 

XXIII.  TRIPOD,  PULPIT,  AND  PLATFORM 146 

XXIV.  THE  METHODIST  CATACLYSM 153 

XXV.  DISPUTING,  PREACHING,  TRAVELING 159 

XXVI.  AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION 174 

(5) 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XXVII.  EDITING,  FINANCIERING,  FIGHTING 196 

XXVIII.  THE  NEW  REGIME 205 

XXIX.  CONVERSION  OF  PRESIDENT  POLK 219 

XXX.  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE.. ... 223 

XXXI.  THE  FIRST  PERSON  SINGULAR 233 

XXXII.  VIEWS,  DOINGS,  JOURNEYINGS 249 

XXXIII.  A  BRIDAL  TOUR,  AND  OTHER  THINGS 257 

XXXIV.  ROUGH  TIMES 267 

XXXV.  THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1866 288 

XXXVI.  THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1870 292 

XXXVII.  MEASURES  AND  MEN 295 

XXXVIII.  RUNNING  NOTES 303 

XXXIX.  TWO  ORATORS  ON  THEIR  METTLE 309 

XL.  WITH  THE  VIRGINIANS  IN   1858 317 

XLI.  AFTER  MANY  DAYS  321 

XLII.  A  GENEALOGICAL  ENCYCLOPEDIA 326 

XLIII.  THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  HERO 331 

XLIV.  HIS  ANTAGONISMS 335 

XLV.  WITH  THE  BOYS  IN  GRAY 340 

XLVI.  DR.  McFERRIN  AS  BOOK  AGENT 357 

XLVII.  McFERRIN'S  GREAT  BOND  CAMPAIGN 363 

XLVIII.  AT  THE  ECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE 368 

XLIX.  AT  THE  CENTENARY  CONFERENCE 376 

L.  HIS  LAST  GENERAL  CONFERENCE 384 

LI.  GROWING  CHARITY 392 

LII.  IN  THE  FIRES 401 

LIU.   DOWN-GRADE  AND  UP-GRADE 407 

LIV.  SUNSET  FLASHES 413 

LV.  SAFELY  LANDED 419 

LVI.  BISHOP  McTYEIRE'S  FUNERAL  SERMON 435 


PROLOGUE. 


T 


O  a  great  figure  perspective  is  helpful ;  to  a  small 
one  it  is  fatal.    Distance  symmetrizes  and  smooths 
the  one,  but  practically  annihilates  the  other. 

McFerrin  will  not  lose  by  the  perspective.  He  tow- 
ered the  peer  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  day,  and  he  will 
always  hold  a  front  place  in  the  picture  the  Church  his- 
torian will  paint  of  the  stirring  times  in  which  he  lived 
and  acted  his  part.  The  foot-prints  of  a  giant  will  be 
seen  by  those  who  in  coming  generations  shall  trace  his 
life,  and  at  least  the  anatomy  of  a  mighty  frame  will  be 
left  to  posterity.  Whether  they  will  see  the  contour 
and  color  of  life  and  feel  the  heart-throbs  of  the  living 
man  depends  mainly  on  what  is  here  written. 

A  phonograph  is  needed  to  bring  back  McFerrin's 
tones,  as  well  as  his  words ;  the  soul  of  the  man  flashed 
forth  in  inflections,  cadences,  and  trumpetings  that  left 
the  earth  forever  when  he  died.  No  one  who  once 
met  him  can  ever  forget  him;  one  who  never  saw  him 
can  never  fully  know  him  as  he  was.  The  effects  of 
his  peculiar  oratory  may  be  described,  but  who  can  tell 
its  secret?  It  is  buried  with  him.  He  was  altogether 
original.  No  homiletical  professor  will  ever  hold  him 
up  as  a  model ;  all  his  imitators  will  fail.  Nature  never 
duplicates  its  productions.     Grace  molds  every  regener- 

(7) 


8  PROLOGUE. 


ated  soul  into  the  image  of  Christ,  but  no  man  is  ever 
modeled  into  the  exact  likeness  of  another. 

McFerrin  influenced  multitudes,  but  begat  no  spirit- 
ual or  natural  son  in  his  own  image.  As  well  expect 
the  reproduction  of  the  megatherium  of  the  tertiary 
period  in  this  year  of  our  Lord  1SS8  as  another  man 
like  McFerrin.  His  like  will  be  seen  no  more  among 
us,  but  his  tracks  were  made  in  the  plastic  season  of 
American  Methodism,  and  when  the  moist  clay  of  con- 
temporaneous knowledge  shall  be  hardened  into  his- 
toric stone  the  student  of  Church  history  will  say  there 
were  giants  in  his  day.  And  the  student  of  compar- 
ative ecclesiology  at  that  future  time,  finding  even  a 
fragment  of  the  life  or  speech  of  this  typical  Method- 
ist, will  be  helped,  in  his  effort  to  discover  what  sort  of 
men  were  they  who  planted  the  gospel  west  of  the  Al- 
leghanies,  and  under  whose  lead  Southern  Methodism 
gained  nearly  600,000  members  in  the  two  decades  ex- 
tending from   1866  to  1 886. 

The  preparation  of  this  biography  was  undertaken 
at  the  request  of  Dr.  McFerrin  himself.  Several  years 
before  his  death  he  said  to  me:  "There  seems  to  be 
some  expectation  that  my  life  shall  be  written  after  I 
am  gone.  I  feel  unworthy  of  such  special  remem- 
brance after  death;  but  should  my  life  be  written,  my 
wish  is  that,  if  you  outlive  me,  you  should  be  the 
writer."  In  his  last  will  and  testament  this  request 
was  repeated  in  a  more  formal  manner,  and  his  papers 
were  accordingly  placed  in  my  hands. 


PROLOGUE.  9 


Three  of  the  requisite  qualifications  for  the  per- 
formance of  my  task  I  may  claim:  genuine  affection 
for  my  honored  friend,  the  intimacy  of  a  long  and  un- 
broken friendship,  and  general  agreement  of  opinion 
concerning  the  doctrines,  polity,  and  usages  of  the 
Church  of  which  we  were  fellow-members.  It  may 
be  that  some  temperamental  contrasts  between  my  glo- 
rified friend  and  his  biographer  may  not  prove  a  dis- 
advantage; the  law  of  the  affinity  of  opposites  is  no 
new  thing  to  the  thoughtful  reader.  If  some  were 
more  alike  they  would  be  wider  apart. 

But  my  work  is  done,  and  whether  well  or  ill  done, 
it  speaks  for  itself.  It  was  written  while  the  echoes 
of  McFerrin's  living  voice  were  still  sounding  in  my 
ears,  and  while  from  day  to  day,  forgetting  for  the 
moment  that  he  was  gone,  I  listened  for  his  familiar 
footfall.  At  times  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  his  fatherly 
presence  was  at  hand,  and  that  the  lips  that  had  so 
often  spoken  to  me  in  words  of  wise  counsel  and 
kindly  admonition  whispered  to  me  to  be  faithful 
to  truth  as  well  as  to  friendship  as  I  penned  these 
chapters.  This  has  been  my  aim,  knowing  that  I  shall 
meet  both  my  friend  and  my  book  at  the  judgment-day. 

O.  P.  Fitzgerald. 

Nashville,  1888. 


**~is^!%r 


^fe==M!.. 


NATIVITY  AND  ENVIRONMENT. 


«T)ORN    in    a    cane-brake   and   cradled   in  a  sugar- 
D  trough  "  was  the  sententious  account  given  of  his 
nativity  and  early  environment  by  the  subject  of  these 
chapters. 

In  Rutherford  County,  Tennessee,  on  the  15th  day  of 
June,  1807,  a  boy-baby  was  born.  He  was  of  unusual 
size,  healthy,  but  not  pretty,  except  to  the  eyes  that 
looked  upon  his  large,  uneven  features  in  the  trans- 
figuring light  of  maternal  love.  That  he  was  not 
weak-lunged  or  lymphatic  in  temperament  was  doubt- 
less demonstrated  very  soon.  That  he  liked  to  have 
his  own  way,  and  was  apt  to  get  it,  was  not  less  evi- 
dent. But  he  was  too  sound  in  his  bodily  make-up  to 
be  cross,  and  too  good  a  sleeper  to  wear  out  the  young 
mother  by  keeping  her  awake  o'nights.  He  was  of 
Scotch-Irish  blood.  The  best  of  this  blood  is  very  good 
—the  worst  is  as  bad  as  Satan  would  have  it.  Its  cal- 
endar of  militant  saints  is  long  and  glorious;  its  muster- 
roll  of  great  sinners  is  not  short.  The  McFerrins  were 
of  this  peculiar  stock.  The  very  name  has  the  Celtic 
ring.  One  curious  and  expert  in  etymology  might  find 
in  It  the  clannishness  of  a  warlike,  iron-handed  race. 
The  family  came  to  America  not,  as  did  the  defeated  and 
broken-down  Cavaliers,  to  get  away  from  debt  at  home, 
or  to  repair  their  broken  fortunes;  or,  as  did  the  Puri- 
tans, to  worship  God  as  they  pleased,  and  to  make  other 

(ID 


12  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

people  do  likewise.  They  came  because  there  was  to 
them  a  fascination  in  the  largeness  and  liberty  of  a  new 
world.  That  there  was  a  spice  of  adventure  and  dan- 
ger in  it  was  perhaps  another  attraction  to  these  inquis- 
itive and  daring  people  whose  God  is  the  God  of  bat- 
tles. They  are  great  fighters.  When  a  battle  is  going 
on  you  will  find  them  on  one  side  or  the  other.  Neu- 
trality is  not  possible  to  them.  In  the  presence  of  a  foe 
they  kindle,  they  strike,  they  keep  striking.  Whether 
on  the  march,  psalm-singing  as  they  went,  to  battle  for 
Kirk  and  country  in  the  Old  World,  or  to  encounter  the 
savage  Indians  and  wild  beasts  amid  the  forests  and 
cane-brakes  of  America,  they  are  the  same  undaunted, 
unconquerable  race. 

Tennessee  owes  much  to  the  Scotch-Irish  pioneers 
who  were  among  its  first  settlers.  Robertson,  Jackson, 
and  Polk  and  Bell  were  of  this  lineage.  They  had 
their  faults,  but  these  faults  were  associated  with  splen- 
did virtues.  They  would  fight  "at  the  drojD  of  a  hat;" 
they  were  horse-racers,  they  were  adepts  at  an  off-hand 
profanity  remarkable  for  its  emphasis  and  rhetorical 
ring;  they  were  cock-fighters  and  card-players.  On  the 
other  hand,  they  exhibited  such  magnificent  courage 
that  they  have  made  heroism  fashionable  among  their 
descendants  unto  this  day.  They  had  such  a  high  stand- 
ard of  veracity  that  the  slightest  imputation  of  falsehood 
was  cause  for  deadly  combat.  To  give  the  lie  was  the 
same  as  to  give  a  bk>w.  Their  personal  honor  was  so 
ingrained  and  so  fortified  by  family  tradition  and  public 
sentiment  that,  whatever  might  be  the  bitter  rivalries 
and  fierce  passions  evoked  by  party  strife,  peculation  or 
corruption  in. official  life  was  scarcely  known.  They 
were  a  fiery,  free-and-easy,  sport-loving,  gallant  people. 


NA  TI VI  TV  A ND  EN VIRONMENT.  13 

When  these  hot-blooded,  hard-headed  men  took  to  re- 
ligion they  did  not  go  at  it  in  any  half-way  style.  In 
that  day  the  Church  and  the  world  were  farther  apart 
than  they  are  now.  Whether  God  or  Satan  was  chosen, 
the  service  was  hearty.  The  Calvinistic  theology  dom- 
inated. It  was  no  rose-water  system.  Its  God  hated 
sin  with  a  perfect  hatred  and  dealt  sternly  with  sinners. 
The  men  and  women  molded  by  it  were  strong  and 
steady,  with  heavy  Rembrandt  shadows  in  the  back- 
ground of  their  natures.  Their  belief  in  the  divine 
sovereignty  had  fatalism  enough  in  it  to  give  them  a 
power  of  endurance  and  a  perseverance  under  difficul- 
ties that  fitted  them  for  the  part  they  took  in  the  subju- 
gation of  the  wilderness  and  the  founding  of  new  States. 
The  granite  of  their  composition  was  hard ;  it  only  took 
a  higher  polish  from  the  attrition  under  which  a  softer 
material  would  have  crumbled.  All  honor  to  those 
grand  old  Calvinists!  Their  theology  has  been  largely 
modified  by  a  sunnier  and,  as  we  think,  a  truer  view  of 
God  and  the  gospel ;  but  it  was  the  stock  upon  which 
was  grafted  the  system  which  has  borne  the  sweetest 
blooms  and  richest  fruits  in  this  western  garden  of  the 
Lord.  Though  it  fought  Methodism  at  first  with  the 
fierceness  of  honest  hatred  of  heresy,  it  gave  to  it  much 
of  what  was  best  in  its  own  system,  and  happily  modi- 
fied tendencies  which,  if  left  unchecked,  might  have 
led  to  disaster.  Arminian  and  Calvinistic  theology  hap- 
pily reacted  on  each  other  at  that  early  day,  and  both 
are  better  for  it  now. 

The  women  at  that  day  were  better  housekeepers  than 
theologians.  They  knew  how  to  cook,  wash,  iron, 
weave,  quilt,  milk  the  cows,  ride  horseback,  manage  the 
garden,  and    cut  and   make   all   sorts  of   clothing.     Of 


14  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

course  they  knew  all  those  little  arts  and  winning  ways 
that  are  instinctive  to  their  sex.  But  they  had  no  time 
or  inclination  for  polemics.  While  their  husbands, 
brothers,  and  sons,  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit,  were  giv- 
ing and  taking  hard  knocks  in  doctrinal  debate,  they 
kept  the  social  life  of  the  times  sweet  with  their  wom- 
anly ministries,  their  patience,  their  tenderness,  and 
their  charity.  They  were  not  lacking  in  strength 
of  character,  but  it  was  in  their  homes  that  they  ex- 
pended their  life-force.  Their  affections  were  not 
frittered  away  in  the  vapid  conventionalities  of  fash- 
ionable city  life.  They  were  keepers  at  home.  They 
took  time  to  read  the  Bible,  to  teach  the  catechism  to 
the  children,  white  and  black,  and  to  go  to  church  once 
a  month,  more  or  less.  They  were  free  from  most  of 
the  diseases  that  result  from  luxury  and  irregular  habits 
of  living,  and  were  the  healthy  mothers  of  healthy 
children.  They  possessed  the  elements  that  make  hero- 
ines, and  many  of  them  were  heroines  without  know- 
ing it.  They  were  unknown  to  the  rostrum  and  to  the 
newspaper;  they  made  no  books,  they  wrote  no  poems; 
they  left  no  written  record  of  their  lives.  But  these 
healthy,  home-loving,  sweet-souled  women  were  none 
the  less  efficient  co-workers  with  the  men  of  their  time 
in  laying  broad  and  deep  the  foundations  of  the  institu- 
tions, civil  and  religious,  that  are  the  priceless  inherit- 
ance of  their  posterity. 

It  was  into  this  society  and  amid  these  conditions  that 
the  large-framed,  large-featured  child  whose  life  we  are 
to  portray  was  born  on  that  summer  day  eighty  years  ago. 


A  GENEALOGICAL  GLANCE, 

(To  be  skipped  if  you  will.) 


THE  McFerrins  emigrated  from  Ireland  to  America 
about  1750.  They  settled  in  York  County,  Penn- 
sylvania. The  family  connection  consisted  of  three 
brothers  and  their  young  families.  The  descendants  of 
one  of  the  three  removed  to  the  western  part  of  that 
State.  The  Rev.  Dr.  McFerrin,  an  able  and  respected 
minister  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  lived  for  many 
years  near  Pittsburgh.  William  McFerrin,  the  grand- 
father of  John  B.  McFerrin,  removed  to  Augusta  Coun- 
ty, Virginia,  in  1765,  where  he  was  married  to  Jane 
Laughlin.  John  Laughlin,  the  father  of  James,  was 
married  to  Jane  Matthews,  and  was  reared  within  two 
miles  of  Belfast,  Ireland.  They  emigrated  to  America 
in  1753,  and  settled  in  Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania. 
His  son  James  married  a  Miss  Duncan,  and  the  grand- 
mother of  John  B.  McFerrin  was  one  of  their  numer- 
ous offspring.  These  Duncans  indulged  a  pardonable 
pride  in  a  family  tradition  that  they  were  remotely  con- 
nected with  the  once  royal  family  of  Scotland.  (The 
most  democratic  of  Americans  are  seldom  indifferent  to 
the  fact  of  having  a  noble  ancestry.) 

The  Laughlins  and  Duncans  became  numerous  fami- 
lies, and  intermarried  with  the  Singletons,  the  Kings, 
the  Sharps,  the  Prices,  the  Vances,  the  Berry s,  the 
Youngs,  the  Porters,  and  many  others. 

The  Laughlins  were  noted  for  their  muscular  strength 
and   courage.     These  qualities   were  highly   valued  at 

(15) 


16  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

that  day,  and  many  striking  incidents  were  related  con- 
cerning these  strong  and  dauntless  people.  One  of  these 
was  the  grandmother  of  J.  B.  McFerrin.  She  was 
small  of  stature,  weighing  only  one  hundred  and  ten 
pounds,  but  was  a  woman  of  extraordinary  bodily 
strength.  She  became  the  mother  of  nine  children,  all 
of  whom  lived  to  reach  maturity  and  developed  into  re- 
markable physical  vigor.  Some  of  this  Laughlin  fam- 
ily became  noted,  also,  for  their  intellectual  power  and 
culture.  There  seem  to  be  remarkable  exceptions  to 
the  law  that  unusual  brain  power  is  to  be  looked  for  in 
connection  with  a  vigorous  physique,  but  the  law  holds 
good  in  general.  The  sound  mind  is  found  with  the 
sound  body.  The  human  being  is  a  unit,  and  all  its 
faculties  and  powers  are  correlated  and  interdependent. 
It  is  not  an  unwise  or  heartless  thing  to  inquire  into  the 
physical  as  well  as  the  moral  soundness  of  the  family 
with  which  you  may  become  allied  by  marriage.  Pas- 
sion will  not  pause  to  consider  this  question  in  most 
cases,  but  rushes  blindly  on  to  secure  its  object,  leaving 
future  generations  to  pay  the  penalty. 

Martin  McFerrin,  who  was  captured  by  the  Indians 
when  a  lad  and  kept  as  a  prisoner  for  several  years,  be- 
longed to  a  branch  of  the  family  that  removed  from 
Pennsylvania  to  Virginia  and  located  near  the  present 
site  of  the  town  of  Fincastle.  He  was  finally  rescued, 
and  became  a  popular  and  influential  man  in  Virginia, 
representing  his  county  for  many  years  in  the  General 
Assembly.  From  this  branch  of  the  family  sprung  a 
numerous  posterity,  who  are  scattered  through  Kentucky, 
Missouri,  and  Colorado.  To  this  branch  belonged  Judge 
William  McFerran,  of  Glasgow,  Kentucky,  and  his  son, 
the   late   Gen.   McFerran,  of  the  United   States   army. 


A  GENEALOGICAL  GLANCE. 17 


( This  way  of  spelling  the  family  name  was  adopted  in 
accordance  with   the   American  custom   of  naturalizing 
names,  as  we  do  the  owners  of  them  in  our  own  way.) 
The  grandfather  of  John   B.  McFerrin   at  an  early 
age  entered   the  Army    of    the    American    Revolution. 
He  was  one  of  the  bold  and  hardy  band  who,  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Kin^s  Mountain,  broke  the  backbone  of  the  Brit- 
ish invasion  of  the  Carolinas,  and  prepared  the  way  for 
the  glorious  end   of    the   great  struggle   for  liberty  at 
Yorktown.     It  was  the  valor  and  unflinching  fortitude 
of   these  men  that  beat   back  the   heavy  onsets  of  the 
British  regulars,  led  by  the  brilliant  and  ill-fated  Fergu- 
son, who  "fell  with  his  cause  on  that  bloody  day.     This 
McFerrin    followed   the   banners   of    Washington   and 
Greene  against  the  British,  and  under  Col.  Christy  had 
also  a  taste  of  Indian  warfare.     When   the  war  ended 
he    married    a   blooming  maiden  and  settled  in  South- 
western Virginia,  locating  a  farm  on  the  banks  of  the 
beautiful  Holston  River,  about  nine  miles  from  the  town 
of  Abingdon.     The  soil  was  rich  and  the  country  new 
and  romantic.     He   erected  a  comfortable  dwelling  in 
the  old  solid  style,  and  it  is  still  standing  in  a  good  state 
of  preservation,  though   nearly  a  hundred   years   have 
elapsed  since  it  was  built. 

Here  the  father  of  John  B.  McFerrin  was  born,  and 
received  the  name  of  his  maternal  grandfather— James. 
The  nine  children,  of  whom  mention  has  already  been 
made,  were  all  born  on  this  Holston  farm.  In  that  new 
country  educational  advantages  were  limited.  Families 
lived  so  far  apart  that  schools  were  few,  and  in  most 
cases  the  teachers  were  poorly  paid,  and  of  course  were 
not  distinguished  for  scholarship  or  skill.  The  peda- 
gogue who  could  «  cipher"  as  far  as  the  Single  Rule  of 
2 


18  JOHN  B   McFERRIN. 

Three  in  DabolTs  Arithmetic  was  a  prodigy  in  the  eyes 
of  many  of  his  patrons,  among  whom  he  boarded  around, 
and  by  whom  he  was  regarded  as  half-monitor  and  half- 
mendicant.  It  was  a  teacher  of  this  type  who  threat- 
ened to  flog  a  pupil  for  leaving  the  "  t "  out  of  the 
word  "  which  "  in  his  copy-book!  Now  and  then  a  man 
of  a  different  sort  would  be  found  in  these  wilds  teach- 
ing the  children  of  the  pioneers.  Educated  Irishmen, 
exiled  for  political  offenses,  or  self-expatriated  from 
other  causes,  penetrated  into  these  distant  regions  and 
opened  schools  in  which  many  distinguished  men  got 
their  first  lessons  in  learning.  They  were  stern  and  ex- 
acting pedagogues.  In  the  cornel*  behind  their  desks 
they  kept  a  number  of  hickory  or  gum  switches — not 
for  ornament,  but  for  use.  The  frequency  and  vigor 
with  which  they  wielded  these  discijDlinary  instruments 
was  in  many  cases  made  the  measure  of  their  popularity 
with  their  patrons,  who  believed  in  no  mild  theory  of 
government,  human  or  divine,  and  with  whom  obedi- 
ence to  rightful  authority  was  the  chiefest  of  virtues. 
There  was  no  little  tyranny  and  brutality  in  some  of 
these  schools,  but  somehow  they  managed  to  mold  man- 
ly men  and  modest  women. 

The  religious  privileges  of  these  Holston  pioneers 
were  superior  for  the  times.  The  family  resided  near 
the  famous  "  Green  Spring  Meeting-house,"  erected  by 
the  Presbyterians,  where  they  had  a  regular  ministry 
and  able  preaching.  The  Bible  was  their  one  book, 
and  it  gave  tone  to  their  thought  and  shaped  their  lives. 
They  believed  in  election  and  predestination,  in  a  real 
heaven,  and  a  real  hell.  They  believed  in  chastity, 
debt-paying,  reciprocal  neighborliness,  and  in  standing 
up  manfully  for  one's  opinions  and  rights.     The  Church 


A  GENEALOGICAL  GLANCE.  19 

was  the  great  conservator  of  the  moral  life  of  the  com- 
munity. Their  children  were  baptized  and  faithfully 
catechised.  Pastors  and  parents  believed  what  they 
taught,  and  thus  were  able  to  impress  upon  the  plastic 
mind  of  the  young  that  faith  in  the  supernatural,  that 
reverence  for  sacred  things,  that  sense  of  accountability 
to  God  that  gave  strength,  stability,  and  dignity  of  char- 
acter. The  standard  of  morals  was  high.  If  classical 
scholars  were  few,  grown  men  and  women  who  were 
ignorant  of  the  fundamental  principles  and  facts  of 
Christianity  were  fewer  still.  The  Bible  in  their  homes 
broadened  and  sweetened  their  lives,  and  was  the  torch 
that  lighted  the  march  of  civilization  in  its  westward 
course.  May  its  light  never  be  quenched  in  the  homes 
of  their  children  to  the  latest  generation ! 

This  grandfather  was  a  farmer,  and  bred  all  his  sons 
to  the  same  calling;  and  all  his  daughters  were  married  to 
farmers.  He  was  a  man  of  medium  size,  about  five  feet 
ten  inches  high,  weighing  about  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds.  His  florid  complexion,  blue  eyes,  and  auburn 
hair  attested  his  pedigree.  He  possessed  good  common 
sense,  his  general  reading  was  considerable,  and  he  was 
particularly  well  read  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  being  a 
Presbyterian  of  liberal  views.  He  lived  to  be  ninety 
years  old,  and  died  in  the  State  of  Mississippi.  Will- 
iam, the  second  son,  was  a  man  of  great  physical  strength. 
In  his  old  age  he  became  very  religious,  was  licensed  to 
preach,  and  died  in  the  faith.  Burton  L.,  the  third 
son,  after  living  many  years  in  Tennessee,  removed  to 
Missouri,  where  he  became  an  active  and  prominent 
member  of  the  Methodist  Church.  He  was  roughly 
treated  during  the  late  war,  and  his  son,  an  excellent 
young  man,  was  murdered  without  provocation — one  of 


20  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

the  many  shocking  and  inevitable  episodes  of  a  conflict 
in  which  the  political  blunders  and  evil  passions  of  two 
generations  came  to  their  disastrous  culmination.  Tab- 
itha  was  married  to  Burton  L.  Smith,  a  devout  Chris- 
tian and  an  ardent  Methodist.  Eleanor  D.  was  married 
to  Cullen  Curlee,  Esq.,  an  excellent  man.  They  be- 
came Baptists,  and  honored  their  Christian  profession 
by  their  godly  lives.  Mary  was  married  to  Poston  Sto- 
vall.  She  was  a  beautiful  and  cultured  woman  who 
died  ill  the  bloom  of  young  womanhood,  leaving  a  small 
family. 

The  father  of  John  B.  McFerrin  was  the  first  son 
and  second  child  of  his  parents.  He  was  born  in  17S4, 
and  was  married  on  his .  twentieth  birthday  to  Jane 
Campbell  Berry,  who  was  two  years  younger  than  him- 
self. She  was  the  youngest  of  eight  children,  the  daugh- 
ter of  John  Berry  and  Jane  Campbell.  The  Campbells 
were  an  extensive  family  from  Eastern  Virginia,  and 
were  related  to  Col.  Campbell  of  King's  Mountain  ce- 
lebrity. Jane  Campbell  Berry  was  also  born  on  the 
banks  of  the  Holston  River,  at  a  place  afterward  known 
as  Berry's  Iron  Works,  about  three  miles  from  the  birth- 
place of  her  husband.  Pier  father  was  connected  with 
a  large  family,  and  possessed  the  remarkable  physical 
strength  which  was  a  family  characteristic.  He  was  a 
zealous  Presbyterian,  and  a  ruling  elder  in  the  Church. 
His  wife's  widowhood  lasted  more  than  thirty  years. 
She  lived  to  be  more  than  ninety  years  old,  and  was  at 
last  buried  in  the  same  grave  with  the  husband  of  her 
youth.  She  reared  eight  children,  who  took  respectable 
positions  in  society.  They  were  all  married;  the  first- 
born of  each  family  was  a  son,  and  his  name  John  Berry. 
The  Berry  family  of  course  became  numerous,  and  are 


A  GENEALOGICAL  GLANCE.  21 

scattered  widely.  They  may  be  found  in  Virginia,  Ten- 
nessee, Ohio,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Texas,  and  California. 

Sallie  was  married  to  John  Gilliland,  and  became  the 
mother  of  a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters.  One 
of  her  sons,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Gilliland,  became  a  useful 
minister  in  the  Methodist  Church,  as  did  also  one  of  her 
grandsons. 

Two  great-uncles  of  John  B.  McFerrin — James  and 
Andrew — settled  at  an  early  day  in  East  Tennessee, 
near  the  Virginia  line,  where  they  reared  large  families, 
some  of  whose  descendants  remain  in  Tennessee,  while 
others  removed  to  the  South  and  West.  In  Oregon 
and  Illinois  are  descendants  of  this  branch  of  the  Mc- 
Ferrin family. 

A  great-aunt  married  a  Martin,  from  whom  sprung 
the  families  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Martin  and  the  Rev. 
Patrick  Martin;  both  were  Methodist  preachers,  and 
both  died  in  Robertson  County,  Tennessee. 

This  genealogical  glance  shows  a  prolific,  sturdy 
stock,  full  of  vitality,  addicted  to  fighting,  praying, 
and  matrimony. 


LOVE,  EMIGRATION,  AND  WAR. 


CLEAN-LIMBED,  athletic,  about  five  feet  ten 
inches  high,  with  ruddy  and  clear  complexion,  blue 
eyes,  and  reddish  hair,  when  James  McFerrin  cast  ad- 
miring glances  irpon  the  gentle  and  affectionate  Jane 
Berry,  he  was  not  repulsed.  They  were  born  for  each 
other — the  bold  and  fiery  soldier,  and  the  quiet,  trusting 
maiden.  The  wooing  was  in  the  good  old  country 
fashion — solitary  walks  on  the  hills,  or  along  the  banks 
of  the  sparkling  Holston,  or  galloping  over  the  rude 
highways  with  the  mountain  breezes  in  their  lungs,  the 
glory  of  nature  around  them  and  its  voices  mingling 
wTith  the  music  of  young  love  in  their  happy  hearts. 
He  wooed  her  in  manly  fashion  and  won  her.  They 
were  married — he  being  twenty  years  old,  and  she 
eighteen.  There  is  no  record  of  the  bridal  festival ;  the 
bride's  trousseau  was  not  described  by  any  newspaper 
reporter  of  that  day;  but  we  may  be  sure  there  was 
a  joyful  wedding  at  her  home  and  an  equally  joyful 
"  infair  "  at  his,  with  abundant  feasting,  merry  games, 
and  shy  jokes  at  the  expense  of  the  blushing,  smiling 
Couple.  And  we  may  believe  also  that  a  mother's  tears, 
the  crystal  drops  from  love's  sacred  font,  bedewed  the 
fair  young  head  in  that  glad  yet  solemn  hour  when  the 
bride  went  out  from  the  old  home  to  meet  what  might 
fall  to  her  lot  in  the  wide,  cold  world. 

A  tide  of  emigration  was  then  moving  westward,  as 
it  is  still   moving  now.      The  energetic  young  husband, 
(22) 


LOVE,  EMIGRATION,  AND   WAR.  23 

James  McFerrin,  caught  the  prevailing  impulse.  He 
had  heard  of  Middle  Tennessee — its  rich  lands,  its  noble 
forests  abounding  in  wild  game,  its  beautiful  streams 
teeming  with  fish.  He  proposed  to  go  and  try  their 
fortunes  in  this  new  field ;  and  the  young  wife,  as  was 
her  way,  yielded  to  his  wishes.  They  were  soon  ready 
and  on  the  march.  The  journey  was  made  on  horse- 
back, his  little  stock  of  ready  cash  in  his  pocket,  and 
their  worldly  goods  taking  up  no  more  room  than  can 
be  found  in  a  portmanteau,  or  one  of  those  packages  in 
which  a  woman  can  stow  away  such  incredible  quanti- 
ties of  things  solid  and  things  hollow,  things  square  and 
things  round,  things  tough  and  things  brittle,  things 
useful  and  things  otherwise.  That  was  a  bridal  tour 
for  you !  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  season  was  mild  and 
the  weather  fair.  The  route  they  took  lay  along  the 
banks  of  the  ever-beautiful  Tennessee  River,  in  sight 
now  and  then  of  the  great  Smoky  Mountains,  looking 
dim,  distant,  and  weird  through  the  gaps  of  the  Cum- 
berland and  Clinch  ranges;  and  for  whole  days  through 
almost  unbroken  forests  where  towered  the  majestic 
yellow  poplar,  the  monarch  of  the  Southern  woods, 
with  the  oak,  the  hickory,  the  chestnut,  and  endless  un- 
dergrowth and  wild  flowers  of  bewildering  variety, 
from  the  snow-white  dogwood  blossoms  to  the  glowing 
red  Indian  pink  that  lent  its  modest  gayety  to  the  scene. 
The  world  was  before  them,  and  love  and  hope  were  in 
their  hearts.  The  hardships  and  dangers  they  encount- 
ered spiced  their  journey  with  a  fresh  fascination.  She 
had  confidence  in  her  husband,  and  he  relied  on  his  own 
brave  heart  and  stalwart  arm. 

Descending  the  steeps  of  the  Cumberland  Mountains, 
the  young  couple  came  to  the  waters  of  Stone's  River. 


24  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Struck  by  the  advantages  and  attractions  of  that  region, 
here  they  stopped  and  set  about  making  a  home  in  the  wil- 
derness. Bubbling  springs  and  running  streams  abound- 
ed, the  virgin  soil  was  rich,  and  the  country  was  abun- 
dant in  undeveloped  resources.  There  were  but  few 
settlers,  and  neighbors  were  few  and  far  apart.  The 
first  thing  to  be  done  was  to  build  a  house.  It  did  not 
take  long  to  do  it.  The  logs  were  cut  and  hewed,  a  day 
was  set  for  the  "  raising,"  the  neighbors  gathered  in 
force  with  their  axes,  saws,  hammers,  and  before  the 
setting  of  the  sun  the  walls  were  erected,  the  clapboard 
roof  put  on,  and  all  made  ready  for  the  daubing,  floor- 
ing, and  chimney.  These  house-raisings  were  great  oc- 
casions in  the  new  settlements  in  those  days.  A  dinner 
of  barbecued  meats  was  usually  one  of  its  features,  and 
a  pleasant  one  to  hardy,  healthy  woodsmen,  wrhose  ap- 
petites did  ample  justice  to  the  brown,  crisp,  and  juicy 
shoats,  the  fat  and  tender  venison,  the  young  lambs  and 
plump  yearlings  roasted  over  the  glowing  coals  in  the 
trenches.  It  was  not  uncommon  on  such  occasions  to 
have  other  and  stronger  drink  than  the  sparkling  spring 
water  and  fresh,  cold  buttermilk.  Total  abstinence 
from  strong  drink  might  have  had  here  and  there  a 
solitary  adherent,  but  the  drinking  of  ardent  spirits  was 
a  universal  custom.  A  capacious  jug  of  whisky  from 
the  nearest  store  or  still-house  would  be  set  in  the  midst, 
and  its  corn-cob  stopper  withdrawn  and  replaced  with 
great  frequency  during  the  day.  It  was  seldom  that 
anybody  got  drunk,  but  everybody  became  lively  as  the 
jug  got  lighter,  and  now  and  then  a  weak-headed  fellow 
showed  that  he  had  taken  more  than  he  could  decently 
carry.  House-raising  was  not  easy  wrork,  but  these 
backwoodsmen  had  such  abundant  energy  and  mingled 


LOVE,  EMIGRATION,  AND   WAR.  25 

so  much  good  humor  and  fun  with  their  labor  that  they 
did  not  mind  it,  and  their  redundant  spirits  were  exhib- 
ited at  the  close  of  the  day  in  trials  of  strength  and 
agility  in  wrestling,  running,  and  leaping.  The  "  best 
man  "  in  these  contests  was  proud  of  his  honors,  and 
was  only  second  to  the  best  marksman  with  the  rifle  as 
a  neighborhood  hero. 

In  all  these  accomj^bshments  James  McFerrin  was 
proficient.  He  could  shoot,  wrestle,  run,  or  jump  with 
the  best;  and  he  soon  won  the  esteem  and  good-will  of 
his  neighbors.  There  was  also  a  dignity  of  presence 
and  a  prompt  and  incisive  way  with  him  that  inspired 
respect  and  confidence.  The  young  couple  from  Vir- 
ginia soon  got  a  footing  in  their  new  home.  The  cane- 
brake  was  cleared,  the  farm  was  fenced,  and  the  tasseled 
corn  took  the  place  of  the  wild  pea-vine  and  the  sweet 
honeysuckle;  and  they  settled  down  to  housekeeping,  a 
healthy,  hopeful,  and  happy  pair.  If  they  lacked  the 
luxuries  they  might  have  enjoyed  in  an  older  commu- 
nity, they  had  large  compensations  in  the  freedom  and 
freshness  of  their  lives  in  their  new  home  on  the  banks 
of  Stone's  River. 

James  McFerrin  was  a  pretty  good  farmer  and  a  bet- 
ter hunter.  He  was,  as  already  intimated,  an  expert  ri- 
fleman, and  could  bring  down  a  bear  or  deer  at  long 
range,  or  knock  a  squirrel  from  the  top  of  the  tallest 
tree. 

When  a  call  was  made  for  volunteers  to  fight  the  In- 
dians, his  bold  and  ardent  nature  made  him  one  of  the 
first  to  take  the  field.  He  was  chosen  captain  of  a  com- 
pany raised  in  his  neighborhood,  and  learned  what  were 
the  real  hardships  of  soldier-life  in  a  march  to  Natchez, 
Mississippi,  to  which  point  he  was  ordered.     Soon  after 


26  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


his  return  from  this  expedition  to  the  South,  trouble 
broke  out  with  the  Creek  Indians,  who  were  then  close 
and  dangerous  neighbors,  and  he  again  entered  the  field. 
He  exhibited  notable  courage  and  skill  in  this  campaign, 
and  won  the  confidence  and  special  commendation  of 
his  fiery  chieftain,  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson,  afterward 
President  of  the  United  States.  The  Creek  War  ended, 
and  Capt.  McFerrin  resumed  the  peaceful  life  of  a 
farmer.  But  the  military  spirit  within  him  was  not 
quenched.  Military  glory  was  the  aim  of  all  ambitious 
souls  in  those  warlike  times.  The  State  militia  was  a 
very  different  thing  then  from  what  it  became  afterward ; 
and  so  when  Captain  McFerrin  rose  to  be  Major,  and 
then  Colonel,  these  increasing  honors  showed  that  he 
was  looked  upon  as  a  man  among  men. 

The  associations  of  military  life  were  not  favorable 
to  religion.  Frofanity  was  looked  upon  almost  as  a  sol- 
dierly accomplishment,  and  examples  in  high  places  were 
not  wanting-  to  give  countenance  to  this  and  other  sins 
that  were  regarded  as  venial.  His  early  religious  im- 
pressions, if  not  obliterated,  were  greatly  weakened. 
The  life  he  lived  was  not  favorable  to  the  acquisition  of 
property.  The  loss  of  time  in  the  militia  musters,  the 
purchase  of  costly  uniforms,  the  claims  of  a  generous 
hospitality — all  made  drafts  upon  the  proceeds  of  the 
Stone's  River  farm;  and  so  it  happened  that,  as  Col. 
McFerrin  rose  in  reputation,  he  rather  sunk  in  fortune. 
What  cared  he?  Freedom,  honor,  manly  sports,  and 
robust  health  were  the  things  he  prized,  and  these  he 
had.  If  others  were  willing  to  slave  and  stint  and  grab 
for  money,  let  them  do  so;  they  were  welcome  to  all 
they  got.  He  preferred  a  grand  militia  parade  to  a  finer 
house,  an  exciting  hunting  party  to  an  extension  of  his 


LOVE,  EMIGRATION,  AND   WAR.  27 

farm,  and  the  glory  of  being  the  bravest  rather  than  the 
richest  man  of  his  neighborhood.  Perhaps  his  choice 
was  not  wholly  unwise.  There  are  better  things  than 
money  for  a  possession  and  to  be  transmitted  to  poster- 
ity. If  this  soldier  had  had  a  greater  love  of  money 
his  elder  children  would  have  been  more  liberally  edu- 
cated and  exerted  a  wider  influence  upon  the  world — 
perhaps.  Money  has  ruined  more  boys  than  it  has  re- 
plly  helped  in  life's  battle. 


A  GREAT  CHANGE. 


THE  Methodists  had  found  their  way  to  Middle  Ten- 
nessee, and  at  this  time — 1819  and  1820 — a  great 
religious  excitement  pervaded  that  part  of  the  State. 
Col.  McFerrin  had  strong  prejudices  against  the  Meth- 
odist people,  of  whom  he  knew  but  little  except  by  hear- 
say. They  were  not  seldom  made  the  subjects  of  his 
sarcastic  remarks.  In  this  he  was  no  worse  than  others 
of  that  day,  when  the  odium  theologicum  was  bitter  be- 
yond what  we  can  now  realize.  Methodism  was  a  storm- 
rocked  child  in  this  land  where  it  is  now  so  great  and 
strong.  Though  far  from  being  a  Christian,  the  doughty 
Colonel  retained  his  early-taught  belief  in  the  Bible  and 
respect  for  religion  of  the  Presbyterian  type. 

A  camp-meeting  was  held  by  the  Methodists  at  Salem, 
not  far  from  Col.  McFerrin's.  The  name  then  truly 
described  these  peculiar  gatherings — they  were  camp- 
meetings.  A  spacious  bush  arbor  was  constructed  in 
the  midst  of  the  forest,  usually  near  a  cool  spring  of 
water;  rude  seats  were  provided;  log-cabins  or  cloth 
tents  were  erected,  and  the  people  from  far  and  near 
came  in  wagons,  carry-alls,  barouches,  and  gigs,  on  horse- 
back and  on  foot.  These  crowds  sometimes  were  num- 
bered by  thousands,  attracted  by  curiosity  or  impelled 
by  the  mysterious  impulse  that  sometimes  moves  the 
popular  heart  so  strangely  and  unaccountably  in  times 
of  religious  excitement. 

Col.  McFerrin  attended  the  Salem  camp-meeting, 
(28) 


A  GREAT  CHANGE  29 

drawn  thither  with  the  crowd.  The  wave  of  spiritual 
excitement  rolled  high.  The  preaching  was  of  a  kind 
he  had  never  heard  before.  That  son  of  thunder, 
Thomas  L.  Douglass,  was  then  in  his  prime.  His  direct 
and  burning  appeals  to  sinners  were  irresistible.  There 
were  others  of  the  same  spirit  who,  as  soldiers  of  the 
militant  Church,  demanded  immediate  and  unconditional 
surrender  to  Jesus  Christ.  The  power  of  God  was 
manifest.  The  stoutest  sinners  felt  it,  and  many  stub- 
born hearts  were  melted  and  subdued.  An  arrow 
reached  the  heart  of  Col.  McFerrin.  He  felt  that  he 
must  yield  or  fly.  Awed,  agitated,  alarmed,  the  awak- 
ened, but  still  resisting,  soldier  mounted  his  horse  and 
galloped  homeward.  But  he  found  no  relief  in  flight. 
The  pains  of  hell  had  gotten  hold  on  him.  He  was  a 
convicted  sinner,  and  in  vain  did  he  seek  to  banish  the 
impression  made  upon  his  mind.  "Now  or  never,"  said 
a  voice  within  him.  Reining  in  his  horse,  he  paused  in 
the  road,  and  then  and  there  decided  the  question  of  all 
questions.  He  surrendered  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  the  surrender  was  complete.  His  conversion  was 
sudden  and  thorough — after  the  type  of  those  marvel- 
ous times.  He  turned  around  and  galloped  back  to  the 
camp-ground,  a  changed  man.  Pie  was  not  slow  in  tell- 
ing what  the  Lord  had  done  for  his  soul,  and  we  may 
imagine  the  sensation  produced  by  the  conversion  of 
this  stout,  fiddling,  profane,  hospitable,  popular  sinner. 
Who  can  estimate  the  consequences  of  his  visit  to  Sa- 
lem Camp-ground?  It  turned  from  its  former  channel 
a  life  that  drew  after  it  a  series  of  influences  that  are 
still  widening  in  their  sweep,  and  which  can  be  fully 
measured  only  when  "the  day"  shall  declare  all  things. 
The  converted  soldier  went  home  and   told  the  won- 


30  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN 


dering  family  of  the  great  change  that  had  come  upon 
him,  and  on  that  night  he  held  family  prayer  for  the 
first  time.  The  erection  of  that  family  altar  was  a  de- 
cisive movement,  commiting  the  new  convert  fully  to 
his  new  life  in  the  presence  of  the  dear  ones  at  home. 
If  all  heads  of  families  would  do  likewise,  how  many 
homes,  now  spiritually  barren,  would  bloom  out  in  all 
the  blessedness  of  family  piety! 

The  conversion  of  the  other  members  of  the  family 
quickly  followed.  The  quiet,  loving,  faithful  wife  felt 
her  heart  strangely  stirred,  and  the  two  older  sons — 
John  and  William — knelt  at  her  side  as  penitents.  Soon 
they  were  all  converted,  and  it  was  a  joyful  household. 

Though  his  former  predilections  were  all  in  favor  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  he  was  reared,  Col. 
McFerrin,  after  due  deliberation,  united  with  the  Meth- 
odists, and  thenceforward  never  wavered  in  his  devotion 
to  Methodist  doctrine,  polity,  and  methods.  When 
Methodism  is  thus  grafted  on  good  Presbyterian  stock 
you  have  almost  the  ideal  Christian  character — the  stead- 
iness and  solidity  of  the  one  type  and  the  spontaneity 
and  warmth  of  the  other.  (Perhaps  this  would  work 
just  as  well  in  reverse  order.) 

Two  weeks  after  the  conversion  of  the  mother  and 
two  sons  they  too  joined  the  Methodist  Church,  being 
received  into  the  "  Society  "  by  the  Rev.  James  San- 
ford,  a  local  minister,  formerly  a  traveling  preacher  in 
the  Virginia  Conference. 

Soon  Col.  McFerrin  began  to  exercise  his  gifts  "  in 
public,"  exhorting  and  holding  prayer-meetings  among 
his  neighbors.  He  laid  aside  his  fiddle,  and  the  places 
that  knew  him  before  knew  him  no  more.  Though 
the  martial  element  in  his  nature  was  still  there,  hence 


A  GREAT  CHANGE.  31 

forth  he  is  to  be  the  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  only 
enemies  he  will  fight  will  be  the  devil  and  sin.  About 
one  year  from  his  conversion  he  began  to  preach.  He 
labored  two  years  as  a  local  preacher,  and  then  joined 
the  Tennessee  Conference,  and  traveled  nearly  twenty 
years,  filling  various  important  positions  as  preacher  in 
charge,  presiding  elder,  delegate  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence, etc.  In  his  diary  there  is  this  record :  "  Up  to  the 
15th  of  October,  1839,  I  have  preached  2,088  sermons, 
baptized  573  adult  persons  and  S33  infants,  and  taken 
into  the  Church  3,965  members."  A  minute  that  he 
kept  on  the  last  page  of  his  pocket  Bible  showed  that 
he  had  read  it  through  eighteen  times  on  his  knees.  He 
died  September  4,  1S40.  The  impression  was  on  his 
mind  from  the  beginning  of  his  sickness  that  he  would 
not  recover.  "  Twenty  years  ago,"  he  said  to  one  of  his 
sons,  "  God  for  Christ's  sake  pardoned  my  sins.  I  then 
dedicated  myself  to  him  in  fervent  prayer,  and  asked 
that  my  life  might  be  spared  for  twenty  years,  that  I 
might  devote  that  time  to  his  service  and  promote  his 
cause.  That  time  has  just  expired,  and  I  think  my 
heavenly  Father  is  going  to  take  me  to  himself."  His 
last  hours  were  full  of  joy  and  triumph.  "When  it  was 
evident  to  all  and  to  himself  that  the  hour  of  departure 
was  near,  he  had  all  his  family  gathered  around  him, 
and  addressed  them  one  by  one,  suiting  his  exhortations 
to  their  various  ages  and  conditions;  but  when  he  came 
to  take  leave  of  his  wife  and  pronounce  a  blessing  on 
her  the  scene  became  indescribable.  He  spoke  of  the 
number  of  years  during  which  they  had  sustained  to 
each  other  the  relation  of  husband  and  wife,  and  re- 
ferred to  the  children  God  had  given  them;  talked  of 
the  sorrows   and  joys  which  they  had  shared  together, 


32  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

exhorted  her  not  to  grieve,  for  the  Lord  would  take 
care  of  her,  and  their  separation  would  not  be  long.  He 
then  told  her  that,  with  God's  permission,  he  would  be 
her  guardian  angel  through  the  valley  of  death."  (  Mem- 
oir by  Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Green.)  This  was  a  touch  of 
nature,  and  an-  example  of  the  ruling  passion  strong  in 
death — the  brave,  loving  heart  going  out  in  tenderness 
and  protection  to  the  woman  who  had  journeyed  on  by 
his  side  from  the  day  that  she,  a  blushing  bride,  had 
put  .her  hand  in  his  in  pledge  of  union  for  life.  "  He 
then  lay  for  a  few  moments  with  his  eyes  closed,  and, 
with  a  smiling  countenance,  commenced  singing  with  a 
loud  voice, 

'Jesus  can  make  a  dying  bed 
Feel  soft  as  downy  pillows  are,' 

and  continued  in  this  frame  of  mind  until  he  breathed 
his  last.  In  answer  to  a  prayer  I  often  heard  him  offer 
to  God  he  died  in  his  senses,  with  Christ  in  his  arms  and 
glory  in  his  soul."     (Dr.  Green's  Memoir.) 


THE  BOY  CHRISTIAN. 


THE  turning  of  the  McFerrins  to  Methodism  was  no 
half-way  movement.  It  took  all  the  older  mem- 
bers of  the  family — the  impulsive,  courageous  father, 
the  wise,  steady,  loving  mother,  and  the  two  stout,  grow- 
ing boys.  John  was  large  and  "  forward  "  for  his  age. 
He  began  to  walk  when  he  was  but  seven  months  old 
■ — a  sort  of  prophecy  of  his  itinerant  career.  He  grew 
rapidly,  being  equal  in  weight  and  stature  to  other  boys 
two  years  older  than  himself.  He  was  full  of  boyish  life 
and  loved  fun.  But,  fortunately  for  him,  there  were 
such  safeguards  thrown  about  him  at  the  time  as  were 
much  needed  by  one  of  his  temperament.  He  was  kept 
busy,  and  that  was  a  good  thing.  Perhaps  he  thought 
at  times  he  had  too  much  of  this  good  thing;  a  healthy 
boy  likes  play,  and  feels  cheated  if  he  does  not  get  it. 
John  worked  hard  on  the  farm;  he  rode  on  all  sorts  of 
errands  through  the  country;  he  went  to  mill;  he  did 
almost  every  thing,  and  throve  on  it,  body  and  mind. 
Self-reliance  was  thus  early  developed  in  a  nature  al- 
ways inclined  to  mark  out  its  own  course.  The  stout- 
limbed  boy,  with  his  large,  uneven  features  and  quick, 
energetic  way,  was  his  father's  right  hand  on  the  farm, 
a  factotum  in  the  family  service. 

A  wise  thought  it  was  in  his  father  to  call  on  John 
now  and  then   to  lead  in  family  prayer.     "  This  made 
me  more  careful,"  he  said  in  after  years,  "  of  my  con- 
duct  at   home;  for  how  could  one  pray  in    the  family 
3  (33) 


34  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

when  his  spirit  and  conversation  contradicted  his  pro- 
fession ? "  In  this  connection  he  also  said :  "  My  father 
watched  over  me  with  great  vigilance,  often  conversed 
with  me  as  to  my  Christian  experience,  and  always  en- 
couraged me  in  the  work  of  my  personal  salvation. 
Never,  perhaps,  was  a  son  more  indebted  to  a  parent 
for  his  affectionate,  Christian  watchfulness  over  a  child 
than  I  was  to  my  beloved  father." 

These  glimpses  indicate  the  family  life,  and  give  a 
beautiful  picture  of  the  home  religion  of  the  McFerrins. 
Its  mingled  currents  flowed  sweetly  together,  and  it  was 
made  easier  for  each  one  to  be  true  and  earnest  in  the 
Christian  life. 

About  the  same  time  John  was  called  on  to  "pray  in 
public."  To  us  now  this  would  seem  premature.  Four- 
teen is  a  very  early  age  for  such  a  function  as  this. 
But  the  boy's  development  was,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  unusually  rapid,  and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was 
upon  him.  It  was  not  in  his  nature  to  hold  a  passive 
attitude  toward  any  thing  that  interested  him,  and  al- 
ready a  hand  was  pointing  him  to  the  path  he  was  to 
travel  through  life.  Those  old  Methodist  preachers 
had  a  way  of  trying  the  metal  of  their  converts,  and 
many  a  rough  diamond  was  thus  found  by  them,  and 
afterward  polished  into  brightness  and  beauty.  And, 
it  may  be  asked,  if  a  delicate  young  girl  may  "  show  off  " 
at  a  graduation,  at  concerts,  or  in  solos  in  church-choirs, 
why  might  not  young  McFerrin  make  a  prayer  when 
called  on  "in  meeting?" 

The  "  old-field  school "  was  then  the  people's  univer- 
sity. To  it  John  went  part  of  the  year,  picking  up  in 
snatches  the  elements  of  a  partial  English  course.  His 
knowledge  of  farming,  wood-craft,  and  human   nature 


THE  BOT  CHRISTIAN.  35 

was  greater  than  his  knowledge  of  books.  He  learned 
to  read  from  the  New  Testament — a  book  not  specially 
adapted  for  school  use  by  beginners,  and  not  found  in 
any  series  of  school-readers  now  used  in  our  graded 
schools.  The  genealogical  table  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Matthew  must  have  been  puzzling  to  John,  and  it  is 
likely  that  some  of  his  teachers  did  not  too  easily  han- 
dle such  names  as  Onesiphorus  and  Diotrephes.  How 
much  of  its  language  he  retained,  and  how  much  of  its 
spirit  he  absorbed,  is  not  known;  but  that  that  well- 
thumbed  copy  of  the  New  Testament  made  its  impress 
upon  the  plastic  mind  of  the  boy  we  cannot  doubt. 

Among  the  memoranda  of  his  life  written  in  his  last 
years  is  found  this  entry :  "  I  never  received  any  pun- 
ishment at  school,  except  that  one  teacher  boxed  my  ears 
once  when  I  was  five  years  old."  That  was  a  brutal 
blow,  we  suspect.  The  memory  of  it  was  vivid  seventy 
years  afterward.  The  heavy-handed  tyrant  had  no 
right  to  strike  a  five-year-old  child  that  way.  Do  not 
box  the  ears  of  a  child,  O  ye  mothers,  fathers,  elder 
brothers,  sisters,  and  teachers!  You  may  forget  it,  but 
the  hasty  blow  leaves  a  scar  upon  the  tender  soul  that  it 
carries  to  the  grave.  It  is  matter  of  surprise  that  he 
only  got  one  blow  at  school  in  those  days  when  the 
moral  suasion  methods  of  school  discipline  were  scarcely 
thought  of.  It  is  also  known  that  the  use  of  the  rod 
was  a  rare  thing  in  the  home  of  the  McFerrins.  The 
secret  was  this:  The  old  Scotch  idea  of  implicit  obedi- 
ence to  parental  authority  was  adopted  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  the  children  were  born  and  grew  into  moral 
consciousness  in  an  atmosphere  of  obedience. 

At  the  house  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  King,  in  Madison 
County,  Alabama,  John  boarded  and  went  to  school  the 


36  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

greater  part  of  a  year,  and  made  good  use  of  the  op- 
portunity thus  given.  Returning  home,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Field — a  Presbyterian  preacher  of  whom  he  always 
spoke  gratefully — taught  him  for  a  season,  the  last  of 
his  school-life.  The  sum  total  of  his  acquisitions,  he 
says,  "  amounted  to  a  partial  knowledge  of  the  English 
language  and  a  few  of  the  sciences — reading,  writing, 
arithmetic,  English  grammar,  history,  and  a  smattering 
of  geography  and  astronomy.  To  this  might  be  added 
what  I  had  read  of  a  miscellaneous  character  and  stud- 
ied at  home  during  my  leisure  hours." 

During  this  time  John's  religious  life  steadily  devel- 
oped. "  My  Bible,"  he  says,  "  was  my  companion ;  it 
was  taken  to  the  secret  place,  and  often  on  my  knees  did 
I  pore  over  its  sacred  pages,  and  ask  God  to  give  me 
wisdom  and  understanding  according  to  his  revealed 
will.  My  class-meetings  were  attended  with  pleasure, 
and  I  found  peculiar  benefit  in  the  use  of  this  means  of 
grace.  Often  was  I  made  happy  in  communing  with 
God  and  my  brethren  in  the  class  and  prayer-meetings; 
and  now,  after  many  years'  experience,  I  take  pleasure 
in  recording  my  firm  belief  in  the  utility  of  these  social 
meetings  for  worship  and  for  mutual  edification  among 
Christians." 

It  was  not  Ions'  before  he  was  called  to  lead  in  these 
social  meetings,  for  which  service  he  must  have  shown 
special  adaptation.  A  class-leader  at  sixteen!  This  was 
fine  schooling  for  the  youth.  In  those  class-meetings, 
among  the  plain,  earnest  Methodists  on  Stone's  Riv- 
er, was  given  the  direction  to  his  ministry  which  it 
always  maintained.  Spirituality,  insight  into  human 
nature,  directness  of  appeal,  and  ready  tact  in  dealing 
with  the  varied  wants  of  the  people,  were  its  marked 


THE  EOT  CHRISTIAN.  37 

features.  The  class-meeting  is  the  best  theological  sem- 
inary for  the  equipment  of  a  young  preacher  for  the 
practical  duties  of  an  overseer  of  the  flock  of  Christ. 
When  the  solid  old  fathers  and  saintly  old  mothers  in  Is- 
rael were  willing  to  be  led  in  class  by  this  beardless  boy, 
just  of  the  gawky  age,  it  is  evidence  enough  that  they 
saw  in  him  wisdom  beyond  his  years,  and  gave  promise 
of  good  things  to  come.  That  word  about  his  Bible- 
reading  "  in  the  place  of  secret  prayer  "  is  significant,  and 
we  can  read  between  the  lines  of  the  internal  struggles, 
the  wrestlings,  the  partial  falls,  and  the  victories  of  the 
youthful  Christian  just  fairly  born  into  the  world  of 
thought  and  listening  with  awe  to  the  Interior  Voice 
sounding  a  divine  call  within  its  holiest  depths.  The 
thick  forest  was  his  oratory,  the  whispering  winds  an- 
swered to  his  sighs,  and  the  overarching  sky  above 
him  typed  to  him  the  Infinite  for  which  he  yearned. 
This  is  the  period  for  morbidness,  but  he  had  no  time 
for  that.  He  had  time  to  work,  to  read  and  pray,  and 
"  go  to  meeting,"  but  none  to  mope  and  whine  in  self- 
pity  and  mawkishness.  His  inner  life  was  sound  and 
sweet.  This  was  in  182 1.  Sixty-five  years  afterward 
(in  1886),  reverting  to  this  period,  he  says: 

"  Two  weeks  after  my  conversion  I  united  with  the 
Church.  We  had  preaching  generally  every  two  weeks, 
and  prayer  or  class-meeting  every  week.  Though  a 
lad,  I  was  soon  called  on  to  lead  in  the  prayer-meeting. 
At  first  the  cross  was  heavy,  but  I  never  refused  to  bear 
it.  In  class -meeting  I  always  spoke  either  voluntarily 
or  in  answer  to  questions  propounded  by  the  preacher 
or  leader.  In  family  prayer  my  father  occasionally 
called  on  me  to  lead.  In  all  these  exercises  I  was  much 
blessed,  and  realized  new  strength  in  my  heart.     I  also, 


38  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

at  about  the  age  of  seventeen,  went  into  a  band  with 
two  others,  and  we  had  our  meetings  frequently.  These 
band  meetings  were  very  profitable.  We  spoke  freely 
and  without  reserve  to  each  other,  and  received  great 
encouragement,  one  from  another.  But  of  all  the  social 
meetings  I  enjoyed  most  the  class-meeting.  At  a  little 
past  sixteen  I  was  made  leader  of  a  very  large  class; 
indeed  the  whole  membership  in  the  Church  present 
often  met  together,  and  we  held  what  we  called  a  gen- 
eral class-meeting.  These  meetings  were  greatly  blessed, 
and  did  much  in  building  up  and  enlarging  the  Society. 
We  read  the  Scriptures,  we  sung,  we  prayed,  we  spoke 
often  one  to  another,  and  the  Lord  hearkened  and  heard, 
and  a  book  of  remembrance  was  kept.  Here  I  heard 
much  of  Christian  experience,  and  learned  to  understand 
the  wants  of  others.  Here  I  learned  to  give  words  of 
exhortation  and  comfort,  and  here  I  learned  to  appre- 
ciate the  trials  and  temptations  connected  with  the  life 
of  a  Christian.  Fifty  years  have  passed,  to  the  time  of 
this  writing,  and  the  precious  seasons  that  I  enjoyed 
then  are  still  fresh  in  my  memory.  I  regard  class- 
meetings  as  among  the  greatest  providential  means  of 
grace  ever  instituted  in  the  Church.  They  did  much 
to  keep  me  in  the  path  when  young,  and  many  encour- 
agements I  had  by  the  experience  of  older  and  wiser 
Christians  than  myself.  Class-meeting  is  about  the  best 
theological  school  ever  organized  by  the  Methodists. 
It  was  a  sad  day  when  it  declined  in  the  Methodist 
Church;  and  I  hope  and  pray  the  time  may  come  when 
it  will  be  revived  in  the  Church  that  has  gathered  so 
much  rich  fruit  from  this  glorious  institution. 

J.  B.  McFerrin." 

March  8,  1883. 


THE  MARTIAL  METEMPSYCHOSIS, 


THE  doctrine  of  the  metempsychosis  hints  at  a  pro- 
found truth  in  its  application  to  the  great  move- 
ments of  human  society.  Moral  forces  do  not  die;  they 
transmigrate.  The  soul  of  a  seemingly  spent  move- 
ment enters  a  new  body.  When  Judaism  had  taught 
its  lesson,  its  vitalizing  spirit  passed  into  the  new  move- 
ment initiated  in  the  wonders  of  the  Pentecost.  The 
soul  that  animated  the  body  of  the  visible  Church  until 
its  corruption  culminated  in  the  reign  of  Pope  Leo  X. 
found  a  new  body  when  liberated  by  the  Monk  of  Er- 
furt. The  doctrine  of  the  conservation  of  forces  is  as 
true  in  the  moral  as  in  the  physical  sphere.  Tides  of 
energy  reach  their  limit  in  one  direction,  and  then  gath- 
ering again  in  mighty  volume  sweep  with  resistless 
power  in  a  new  path. 

Herein  may  be  found  an  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
early  Tennessee  Methodism  was  so  pre-eminently  a 
militant  movement.  The  echoes  of  the  guns  of  York- 
town  were  still  in  the  air ;  heroes  who  fought  at  King's 
Mountain  were  still  living;  Revolutionary  fires  were 
yet  burning  hot  in  the  hearts  of  a  generation  who  fresh- 
ly remembered  the  fears,  the  suspense,  the  agonies  of 
the  seven-years'  struggle  for  liberty.  The  several  In- 
dian wars  and  the  second  war  with  Great  Britain  kept 
alive  the  martial  ardor  of  the  people.  The  literature  of 
the  day  was  ablaze  with  it ;  the  "  Star-spangled  Ban- 
ner "  and  similar  lyrics  were  sung  everywhere ;  Jackson, 
the  hero  of  New  Orleans,  was  the  popular  idol.     The 

(39) 


40  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

military  spirit  pervaded  the  nation.  Martial  courage 
was  the  chief  est  virtue  of  the  people,  cowardice  the"  un- 
pardonable sin. 

Thus  Methodism  found  a  prepared  people  when  it 
came  to  Tennessee.  The  unflinching  heroism  of  its 
preachers,  its  aggressive  methods,  its  hymnology  reso- 
nant with  the  paeans  of  Christian  soldiers  in  their  victo- 
rious march  to  the  conquest  of  the  world — all  combined 
to  mold  the  converts  and  proselytes  of  early  Methodism 
in  Tennessee  into  the  militancy  that  made  it  a  disturb- 
ing, revolutionary,  invincible  force  wherever  its  banner 
was  unfurled  and  its  doctrines  promulgated.  Men  who 
had  for  conscience'  sake  broken  through  the  meshes  of 
ecclesiasticism,  who  had  led  a  successful  religious  revo- 
lution, and  who  feared  neither  man  nor  devil,  the  Meth- 
odist preachers  of  that  day  reflected  in  their  character 
and  methods  the  very  genius  of  that  heroic  time.  The 
soul  of  the  civil  revolution  seemed  to  animate  the  relig- 
ious revival;  the  fires  of  1776,  refined  into  a  holier 
flame,  kindled  anew  in  the  West;  the  new  nation  that 
had  been  born  into  freedom  amid  blood  and  flame  was 
being  born  again  to  God  as  the  itinerant  hosts  moved 
westward,  singing  and  shouting  as  they  marched.  It 
was  a  martial  metempsychosis. 

These  early  Methodist  preachers  in  the  West  had  lit- 
tle use  for  defensive  weapons.  They  wielded  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit  with  a  skill  peculiar  to  them  as  men  of  one 
Book.  They  made  no  compromises  with  the  world,  the 
flesh,  or  the  devil;  they  thundered  against  the  strong- 
holds of  sin  with  the  artillery  of  the  law,  and  demanded 
unconditional  surrender  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Their  battle-song  was,  "Am  I  a  soldier  of  the 
cross?" — a  lyric  that  still  rings  along  the  lines. 


THE  MARTIAL  METEMPSYCHOSIS.  41 


The   stimulus  of  a  warlike  time  was   not   needed  to 
give  to  the  ministry  of  young  McFerrin  an  aggressive 
character.     He  did  dearly  love  a  fight,  and  was  sprung 
at  once  when  the  call  of  duty  summoned  him  to  battle 
for  the  truth.     If  he  sometimes  thought  he  saw  the  red 
flag  when  it  was  not  visible  to  others,  and  charged  with 
headlong  energy  where  no  enemy  was,  we  need  not  be 
surprised.     He  started  out  as  a  preacher  with  the  notion 
that    this    is    an    evil    world    that   must    be    righted,   a 
world  in   error    that    must    be    corrected,    a    rebellious 
world  that    must  be  subdued,  by  the   gospel    of   Jesus 
Christ.     On   this    line   he  started,  and    he    followed  it 
to  the  end.     But  his  courage  was  happily  balanced  by 
caution ;  he  was  daring,  but  not  rash.     He  knew  his  own 
resources,   and  measured  quickly  the  difficulties   to  be 
overcome.     He .  rarely   failed   to   carry   his   point.     He 
could  reason  in  his  own  way,  and  persuade  with  winning 
force;  but  the  bent  of  his  nature  led  him  to  employ  a 
method  of  his  own.      Selecting  the  most  salient  points 
in  the  errors  he  wished  to  combat,  he  bore  down  upon 
them  with  Scripture  quotation  usually  apt,  with  playful 
touches  of  humor  that  made  his  hearers  smile,  but  sent 
a  barbed   arrow  through   a  joint  in   the   enemy's  mail; 
then  he  would  deliver  a  succession  of  blows  so  rapid  and 
so  stunning  that,  under  his  final  declamatory  onset,  vic- 
tory was  complete.     This  pugnacious  method  was  fol- 
lowed by  him  with  success  even  in  dealing  with  con- 
gregations that  were  all  on  his  own  side.     He  would 
personate   and   catechise  an   imaginary   antagonist,  and 
then  pierce  him  through  and  through,  using  the  reduc- 
tio  ad  absurdain  with  such  effect  that  the  error  he  at- 
tacked was  ever  after  made  to  look  more  ridiculous  and 
more  hateful  to  his  delighted  auditors.     Thus  he  was  9 


42  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

man  of  war  from  his  youth  up;  sword  in  hand,  he  was 
always  ready  for  an  encounter.  Universalism  sought 
but  vainly  to  get  a  footing  among  the  people  of  the 
West  in  that  day  when  it  was  finding  a  lodgment  in 
New  England  with  other  isms  that  came  in  with  the  re- 
action against  ultra  Augustinianism.  This  heresy  found 
no  mercy  at  the  hands  of  McFerrin;  upon  it  he  exhaust- 
ed all  the  sharpness  of  his  wit,  the  drollness  of  his  hu- 
mor, and  the  vehemence  of  his  invective.  It  was  indeed 
a  bold  man  who  would  confess  Himself  a  believer  in  it 
after  he  had  thus  riddled  and  gibbeted  it.  His  Presby- 
terian pedigree  did  not  prevent  him  from  running  full- 
tilt  against  the  sharp  angles  of  the  Westminster  Con- 
fession when  they  seemed  to  get  in  his  way.  If  a  good 
Baptist  or  other  immersionist  wanted  to  dispute  about 
the  mode  of  baptism,  he  was  ready  to  wrestle  with  him 
at  the  shortest  notice.  If  a  brother  preacher  of  his  own 
Church  showed  signs  of  unsoundness  in  doctrine,  or  al- 
lowed metaphysical  speculation  to  entice  him  into  the 
region  of  misty  and  doubtful  disputation,  the  first  thing 
he  knew  McFerrin  was  after  him,  cudgel  in  hand,  to 
drive  him  back  into  the  beaten  path.  Fortunately  for 
himself  and  for  the  Church,  McFerrin's  pugnacity  was 
of  the  conservative  sort ;  it  did  not  incite  him  to  break 
down  or  to  break  over  the  wall  of  orthodoxy,  but  .rather 
to  set  himself  for  its  defense,  to  restrain  restless  spirits 
within,  and  to  repel  all  assailants  from  without.  Had 
he  been  destructive  rather  than  conservative  in  his  spirit 
and  purposes,  he  would  have  made  some  thrilling  chap- 
ters in  Methodist  history.  He  possessed  all  the  elements 
of  an  ecclesiastical  or  political  revolutionist — boldness, 
shrewdness,  the  magnetism  that  attracts  and  the  will- 
power that  controls  men.     Had  he  taken  the  role  of  a 


THE  MARTIAL  METEMPSYCHOSIS.  43 

reformer  of  the  radical  type,  what  a  stir  he  would  have 
made  among  the  Methodists  whom  he  had  joined!  Had 
he  been  a  politician,  what  a  commotion  he  would  have 
made  in  the  political  arena!  Tennessee  would  have 
rocked  under  his  tread.  If  Andrew  Johnson  and  John 
B.  McFerrin  had  met  "on  the  stump,"  when  both  were 
in  the  prime  of  their  powers,  the  collision  would  have 
been  indeed  terrific.  He  was  not  inferior  to  that  sharp- 
angled,  forceful,  audacious  man  of  the  people  in  his 
ability  to  impress  the  masses,  and  was  his  superior  in 
the  wit  and  tact  that  were  such  potent  factors  in  the  suc- 
cess of  that  other  great  commoner,  Abraham  Lincoln. 
What  McFerrin  would  have  been  without  religion  is  a 
speculation  perhaps  more  curious  than  profitable.  But 
if  he  had  chosen  the  service  of  Satan  rather  than  that 
of  Jesus  Christ,  who  can  tell  how  greatly  would  have 
been  changed  the  currents  of  history  within  the  circle 
of  his  movement?  As  a  soldier  of  fortune  he  would 
have  made  his  mark  on  his  time;  as  a  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ,  under  the  Methodist  system,  his  extraordinary 
powers  reached  their  maximum  of  development,  and 
his  name  will  perhaps  be  spoken  by  men  as  long  as  that 
of  any  of  his  distinguished  contemporaries  who  climbed 
to  the  high  places  of  secular  ambition. 

The  key  of  McFerrin's  life  is  found  in  those  charac- 
teristics of  his  times  and  in  his  own  organic  tendency. 
A  sanctified  pugnacity  was  its  unifying  principle.  It 
will  not  be  claimed  by  any  that  his  pugnacity  was  al- 
ways sanctified  in  the  sense  that  he  made  no  mistakes, 
that  he  never  struck  amiss,  or  that  in  all  cases  he  knew 
when  to  put  his  sword  back  into  its  scabbard.  He  was 
very  human,  and  when  in  the  full  tide  of  excitement — 
whether  it  was  pathetic,  humorous,  or  combative — the 


44  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

play  of  his  genius  and  the  intensity  of  his  feeling  bore 
him  beyoncT  the  barriers  where  other  men  of  weaker 
natures  and  cooler  passions  paused.  In  the  heat  of  bat- 
tle he  thought  of  nothing  but  victory,  and  every  lawful 
weapon  within  reach  was  used  by  him.  He  did  not  scru- 
ple to  employ  the  argumentum  ad  homine?n  when  hard 
pressed,  and  from  force  of  habit  he  overthrew  with  it 
many  a  brother,  who  was  made  to  feel  exceedingly  un- 
comfortable under  the  storms  of  laughter  raised  at  his 
expense,  while  he  found  it  impossible  to  get  angry  with 
the  victor  who  had  struck  him  so  hard  and  yet  without 
the  least  malicious  intent.  When  it  is  said  that  sanctified 
pugnacity  was  the  dominant  trait  in  his  character,  and 
the  key  to  his  career,  the  meaning  is  that  he  was  a  true 
soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  whose  consecration  was  gen- 
uine. He  fought  a  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith  through 
all  the  long  and  stormy  years  of  a  ministry  of  sixty  years 
in  the  Church  of  God. 

McFerrin's  nature  was  a  harp  of  many  strings  tuned 
by  a  hand  divine,  its  dominant  note  the  battle-call.  Its 
discordant  notes — and  no  life  is  wholly  without  them — ■ 
were  the  expression  of  the  human  infirmities  that  differ- 
entiate every  human  life  from  that  of  the  Divine  Man, 
whose  banner  he  bore  in  the  forefront  of  the  fight  with 
a  devotion  that  never  cooled  and  a  courage  that  never 
failed. 


GREEN  AND  McFERRIN. 


IN  the  autumn  of  1822  Rev.  James  McFerrin  had 
removed  to  Alabama,  and  settled  near  the  village  of 
Bellefonte,  in  Limestone  County,  where  he  had  charge 
of  the  circuit.  His  colleague  was  a  young  man  whose 
name  is  now  familiar  to  the  whole  Church — A.  L.  P. 
Green.  He  was  a  year  older  than  John  B.  McFerrin — 
tall,  well-proportioned,  with  chestnut  hair  slightly  curl- 
ing around  a  broad  forehead,  a  blue  eye  that  often  twink- 
led in  quiet  merriment,  but  with  an  expression  that  be- 
tokened a  thinker  who  could  go  deep  into  things.  His 
motion  was  deliberate,  but  gave  the  impression  that  he 
would  always  be  in  time ;  his  voice  was  full  and  mu- 
sical, and  held  his  hearers  without  apparent  effort.  It  is 
likely  that  his  preaching  on  the  Limestone  Circuit  was 
crude  enough,  for  he  was  very  young,  and  had  sprung 
up  as  a  spontaneous  growth  in  those  days  when  preach- 
ers called  of  God  went  at  once,  like  Amos  from  his 
sheep-cotes,  to  deliver  the  message  of  the  Lord. 

Aleck  Green  and  John  McFerrin  were  often  thrown 
together  this  year,  young  Green  making  frequent  visits 
to  the  family  of  his  senior  colleague.  The  young  men 
were  fine  specimens  of  vigorous  young  manhood.  They 
were  just  at  the  age  when  their  whole  natures  were 
alive  and  aglow.  Young  Green,  in  the  family  of  the 
McFerrins,  could  unbend  from  the  severe  gravity  ex- 
pected of  the  clergy,  and  indulge  in  the  playfulness  and 
mischief  that  never  wholly  deserted  him.     A  wrestling- 

(45) 


46  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

match  between  the  young  men  was  prophetic  of  many 
a  hard  but  friendly  tussle  in  after  years.  "  I  threw 
Green  the  first  fall,"  said  McFerrin,  "but  he  downed 
me  on  the  second  trial.  I  wasn't  anxious  to  try  him 
again."  The  genius  of  the  two  men  is  here  indicated — 
the  impetuous  temper  of  McFerrin  that  bore  down  his 
adversary  before  he  had  time  to  think  or  brace  himself 
to  meet  it,  and  the  cool,  watchful,  steady  attitude  of 
Green  that  made  him  more  likely  to  succeed  in  the  sec- 
ond round  than  the  first,  and  who  won  many  a  fight  in 
the  councils  of  the  Church  that  seemed  hopeless  at  the 
start.  From  this  time  the  history  of  these  two  young  men 
ran  in  parallel  lines  and  close  together.  They  were  fel- 
low-soldiers and  chieftains  in  a  conquering  army,  inspir- 
iting, balancing,  supplementing  each  other.  They  were 
rivals  too,  but  in  no  bad  sense.  The  friends  of  each 
have  said  that  with  either  one  out  of  the  way  the  other 
would  have  been  made  a  Bishop.  This  is  perhaps  true. 
But  it  matters  not.  The  office  would  have  made  neither 
of  tliem  a  greater  man.  They  were  sui  generis,  and 
filled  the  places  they  were  born  for — Green,  the  wise 
counselor  whose  head  was  steady  in  the  midst  of  the 
wildest  storm;  McFerrin,  the  man  of  action,  the  right 
arm  of  executive  energy.  Their  friends  in  after  years 
sometimes  put  them  into  sharper  contrast  and  more  an- 
tagonistic attitudes  toward  each  other  than  either  would 
have  liked.  When  they  met  in  heaven  the  friendship 
that  bloomed  so  sweetly  among  the  North  Alabama  hills 
in  their  youth  was  not  marred  in  its  blessedness  by  the 
slight,  jostlings  that  took  place  when  they  were  fighting 
side  by  side  in  the  Church  militant. 

The  Methodist  preachers  were  frequent  visitors  to  the 
McFerrin  family,  and  John  had  the  benefit  of  their  so- 


GREEN  AND  McFERRIN.  47 

ciety  and  the  inspiration  of  their  enthusiasm  for  their 
sacred  calling.  "  From  these  servants  of  the  Church," 
he  said,  "  I  gained  much  valuable  information  on  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity.  I  exercised  myself  in  prayer 
and  in  exhortation,  which  proved  beneficial  to  me  if  not 
to  others.  The  class-meeting  I  led  grew  to  a  large  and 
spiritual  congregation  in  which  many  were  converted." 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  young  McFerrin  was  li- 
censed to  exhort  by  William  McMahon,  presiding  elder 
— a  strong  man  of  a  unique  individuality,  who  doubtless 
left  his  impress  upon  the  young  exhorter.  McMahon 
was  a  natural  orator  of  no  mean  order,  and  a  thinker 
withal.  "  How  is  it  ? "  asked  a  studious  and  ambi- 
tious young  preacher  who  was  traveling  and  preaching 
with  him,  "  how  is  it,  Brother  McMahon,  that  though  I 
read  and  study  all  the  time,  and  you  hardly  ever  look 
into  a  book,  yet  you  beat  me  preaching?"  "I  have 
here,"  said  McMahon,  tapping  his  forehead,  "  what 
books  are  made  of — brains ! "  McMahon  was  from 
Virginia,  of  Irish  descent — a  bold,  rugged,  deep-chested, 
muscular,  hot-blooded  man,  whose  courage  was  equal  to 
any  emergency,  and  whose  faith  ignored  impossibilities. 
Day  after  day  he  could  preach  or  exhort  in  the  open  air 
at  the  top  of  his  voice,  without  apparent  fatigue  or 
hoarseness.  He  was  a  powerful  preacher,  but  it  is  said 
that  his  special  gift  was  exhortation.  It  was  the  custom 
in  those  days,  when  the  preachers  in  apostolic  fashion 
went  forth  in  pairs,  to  follow  the  sermon  at  each  service 
with  an  exhortation.  It  was  then  that  McMahon  rose  to 
the  full  height  of  his  power  as  an  orator.  His  thought 
would  kindle  under  the  suggestions  of  the  pulpit,  his 
emotional  nature  would  take  fire,  and,  rising  as  the 
preacher  sat  down,  he  would  pour  forth  a  tide  of  elo- 


48  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

quence  that  swept  all  before  it.  His  appeals  would 
startle  the  most  apathetic;  he  would  flash  divine  truth 
upon  the  guilty  conscience  as  with  an  electric  light,  and 
then  he  would  plead  with  the  sinner  with  a  pathos  so 
melting  that  the  hardest  hearts  would  yield.  His  dis- 
trict embraced  a  vast  territory,  and  with  untiring  energy 
he  rode  his  rounds,  stirring  the  masses  of  the  people, 
winning  the  wanderers,  and  confirming  the  faithful.  He 
was  a  "  son  of  thunder,"  and  yet  had  in  him  also  the 
elements  of  a  Barnabas — a  mighty  man  of  God  in  his 
day.  The  existing  type  of  Methodism  in  all  that  region 
bears  the  indelible  impress  of  the  fervent,  fearless,  force- 
ful men  who  first  planted  the  Church  among  the  forests 
and  cane-brakes  of  Tennessee  and  North  Alabama. 

In  those  days  the  exhorter's  license  was  the  usual  pre- 
liminary to  the  pulpit.  Gifts  and  graces  were  tried  in 
this  way  by  the  Church,  and  the  neophyte  thus  felt  his 
way  along  the  untried  path.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
young  McFerrin  now  began  to  look  more  earnestly 
toward  the  ministry.  His  own  words  will  best  tell  what 
were  his  thoughts  and  feelings  at  this  time: 

"  Now  I  began  to  think  more  seriously  of  preaching. 
Indeed,  the  subject  had  long  lain  with  much  weight  on 
my  mind.  I  strove  against  it.  I  had  other  plans  and 
prospects  in  view,  and  these  I  did  not  like  to  abandon. 
And  then  the  thought  of  the  vast  obligations  of  a  min- 
ister of  Christ,  and  my  utter  disqualification  for  so  high 
and  holy  a  calling,  distressed  me.  Again  and  again  I 
resolved  to  suppress  the  conviction  and  betake  myself  to 
an  active  life  of  business.  Once  I  went  so  far,  by  the 
consent  of  my  father,  who  did  not  then  know  my  mind 
on  the  subject  of  preaching,  as  to  make  a  contract  to  go 
into  the  store  of  a  merchant,  where  I  was  to  act   as  a 


GREEN  AND  McFERRIN.  .49 

clerk  and  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness. This  project  failed,  and  it  was  impressed  on  me 
that  it  was  providential,  for  continually  it  bore  on  my 
mind,  '  Woe  is  me  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel ! '  But  how 
could  a  stripling  of  eighteen,  with  a  limited  education, 
take  on  himself  the  work  of  the  gospel  ministry?  O 
the  deep  anxiety  of  mind  and  the  many  struggles  of 
heart  in  settling  the  question  whether,  under  all  these 
disadvantages,  to  go  forward  and  make  the  trial,  or  to 
plunge  myself  into  worldly  pursuits  and  acquire  fame 
or  fortune  as  I  might!  At  last  I  broke  the  subject  to 
my  beloved  father,  and  he  quietly,  yet  decidedly,  en- 
couraged me  to  preach." 

Only  a  preacher's  heart  can  fully  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  that  memorable  interview  between  father  and  son. 
Beneath  the  father's  quiet  manner  was  a  joy  too  deep 
for  words  in  being  called  on  to  ratify  the  call  of  God. 
That  was  a  glad  hour  to  him,  and  a  solemn  one  to  both. 
The  memory  of  it  was  vivid  and  precious  when  more 
than  half  a  hundred  years  had  passed. 

His  name  was  brought  before  the  "  Society; "  he  was 
duly  recommended,  and  at  the  District  Conference  held 
at  Cambridge,  Alabama,  October  8,  1825,  he  was  pub- 
licly examined,  licensed  to  preach,  and  recommended  for 
admission  on  trial  as  a  traveling  preacher  in  the  Ten- 
nessee Annual  Conference. 
4 


ADMITTED  INTO  THE  CONFERENCE. 


THE  session  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  for  1825 
was  held  at  Shelbyville  in  the  month  of  Novem- 
ber. Young  McFerrin  determined  to  attend  it.  "  It 
was,"  he  says,  "  the  first  I  ever  attended.  My  feelings 
on  leaving  home  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe.  As  I 
rode  away,  and  turned  for  the  last  lingering  look,  my 
eyes  overflowed  with  tears  and  my  bosom  swelled  with 
emotion.  To  leave  my  mother  was  a  hard  trial,  and  to 
bid  farewell  to  brothers  and  sisters  made  the  trial  doubly 
hard.  And  then  the  fears  entertained;  it  was  very 
doubtful  whether  or  not  I  would  be  received;  and,  if 
admittedj  I  doubted  my  ability  to  do  the  work." 

A.  L.  P.  Green  was  his  companion  in  the  journey  to 
the  seat  of  the  Conference.  Their  way  led  across  the 
spurs  of  the  Cumberland  Mountains.  In  that  altitude, 
in  the  bracing  keenness  of  the  November  air,  with  youth 
and  health  and  hope,  and  the  divine  undersong  in  their 
souls,  whatever  may  have  been  the  heart-struggles  of 
the  two  young  preachers,  theirs  was  not  a  gloomy  ride 
to  Shelbyville.  No  part  of  their  talk  by  the  way  has 
come  to  us,  but  it  would  take  but  a  few  sentences  to  illu- 
mine these  pages  with  the  rosy  light  that  bathes  the 
mountain-tops  in  life's  bright  morning.  It  is  likely  that 
snatches  of  sacred  song  woke  the  echoes  of  the  hills,  and 
startled  the  squirrels  that  were  frisking  and  feasting 
among  the  hickory  and  chestnut  trees  by  the  road-side ; 
or,  with  subdued  voices  and  moistening  eyes,  after  the 
(50) 


ADMITTED  INTO  THE  CONFERENCE.  51 

fashion  of  the  times,  they  exchanged  "  experiences,"  and 
made  the  forests  through  which  they  rode  sacred  as  the 
temples  of  God. 

They  reached  Shelbyville,  and  here  for  the  first  time 
young  McFerrin  saw  a  Methodist  Bishop.  Bishops 
Roberts  and  Soule  were  both  present.  "  They  were," 
he  says,  "  men  in  the  vigor  of  life.  Their  appearance 
made  a  deep  impression  on  my  mind.  They  were  re- 
markably plain  in  their  dress — wearing  broad-brimmed 
hats,  short  breeches,  and  the  old-fashioned  Quaker  or 
Methodist  coats.  They  looked  like  patriarchs.  Their 
preaching,  too,  affected  me.  Bishop  Roberts  preached 
in  the  forenoon  on  Sunday,  and  Bishop  Soule  in  the  aft- 
ernoon. The  fine  voice,  the  wonderful  pathos,  and  the 
natural  oratory  of  Bishop  Roberts  greatly  delighted  me, 
while  the  profundity  and  great  intellectual  strength  of 
Bishop  Soule  overwhelmed  me." 

The  session  of  the  Conference  was  stormy  and  long. 
The  "  radicals,"  as  they  were  called,  had  made  agitation 
in  many  places  in  Middle  Tennessee.  The  passions  of 
both  parties  were  aroused,  and  in  the  Church  trials  that 
had  taken  place  patience  and  forbearance  had  not  been 
conspicuous.  Several  local  preachers  who  had  been  ex- 
pelled had  appealed  to  the  i\nnual  Conference,  with 
grievous  complaints  against  some  of  the  presiding  elders 
and  preachers  in  charge.  So  impartial  were  the  rulings 
of  the  Bishops,  and  so  just  was  the  action  of  the  Con- 
ference in  dealing  with  these  cases,  that  the  tide  of  de- 
fection was  stayed,  and  Tennessee  Methodism  hardly 
felt  a  movement  that  shook  other  parts  of  the  Church 
like  an  earthquake.  The  head  of  Soule  and  the  heart 
of  Roberts  were  both  needed  for  that  crisis  in  the  Ten- 
nessee Conference. 


52  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Young  McFerrin,  not  yet  admitted,  did  not  hear  the 
discussion  in  the  Conference,  but  he  was  waiting  with 
an  anxious  heart  to  know  his  fate.  "  The  case,"  he  says 
quaintly,  "in  which  I  felt  the  most  interest  was  my 
own.  I  often  asked  myself  the  questions,  '  Shall  I  be 
admitted?  If  so,  where  shall  I  be  sent?'  The  Con- 
ference was  well  supplied,  and  there  were  many  candi- 
dates for  admission ;  but  there  was  a  call  for  men  to  go 
to  Mississippi.  I  was  willing  to  go  anywhere,  but  felt 
myself  incompetent  to  take  charge  of  an  important 
mission-field  where  the  people  needed  instruction  in  the 
grand  doctrines  of  Christianity.  I  needed  the  help  of 
some  one  deeply  experienced  in  the  things  of  God  and 
the  work  of  the  ministry  to  teach  and  lead  me.  I  com- 
mitted all  to  God  and  to  my  brethren.  I  was  admitted 
on  trial,  and  here  began  a  work  to  which  I  resolved  to 
consecrate  my  whole  life." 

He  was  appointed  to  Franklin  Circuit  as  junior 
preacher,  Finch  P.  Scruggs  being  preacher  in  charge 
and  Alexander  Sale  supernumerary.  William  McMa- 
hon  was  the  presiding  elder.  Franklin  Circuit  was  then 
in  the  Huntsville  District.  Of  the  young  itinerant's  ini- 
tiation we  let  him  tell  the  story  in  his  own  language: 

"  The  Conference  adjourned  on  Saturday  afternoon, 
and  many  of  the  preachers  left  immediately  in  crowds 
for  their  respective  fields  of  toil.  The  Bishops  re- 
mained with  a  few  of  the  brethren  who  were  going 
South.  They  preached  again  on  the  Sabbath,  and  rode 
a  few  miles  in  the  afternoon  to  the  house  of  a  friend, 
intending  to  set  out  on  Monday  morning  for  Mississippi. 
Their  route  led  them  directly  through  my  circuit,  and  I 
was  anxious  to  have  company,  as  the  road  was  new  and 
the  distance  at  least  three  days'  journey.     I  accordingly 


ADMITTED  INTO  THE  CONFERENCE.  53 

ordered  my  horse  (I  was  stopping  at  the  hotel  by  the 
special  invitation  of  Col.  Cannon,  the  proprietor,  an  in- 
timate friend  of  my  father,  who  was  also  his  guest). 
When  my  horse  was  brought  out  he  was  rigged  off  with 
an  old  saddle  and  bridle  not  worth  five  dollars,  instead 
of  an  entirely  new  and  valuable  outfit.  Upon  inquiry, 
the  hostler  said  that  on  Saturday  some  man  had  gone 
into  the  stable  and  led  out  his  own  horse,  and  he  doubt- 
less had  taken  my  saddle  and  bridle.  The  name  of  the 
thief  was  ascertained,  and  the  hostler  posted  off  twelve 
miles  into  the  country  in  search  of  my  goods.  He  found 
the  man  and  recovered  the  property. 

"  On  Monday  morning,  alone,  I  set  out  for  my  cir- 
cuit. The  feelings  of  my  heart  no  one  can  imagine  who 
has  not  had  a  similar  experience.  Young,  going  among 
strangers,  and  going  as  a  freacher,  going  to  fulfill  the 
high  commission  of  Heaven — how  could  I  go?  But  I 
had  given  myself  to  God  and  to  his  work;  my  hand 
was  on  the  plow,  and  I  dared  not  look  back.  In  the 
name  of  God  I  went  forward  with  a  sense  of  my  re- 
sponsibility and  insufficiency.  While  riding  alone,  full 
of  these  solemn  reflections,  I  was  overtaken  by  the  Rev. 
James  W.  Allen,  who  accompanied  me  two  days  on  my 
journey.  He  was  a  young  preacher  of  great  promise, 
and  an  interesting  traveling  companion.  The  first  night 
we  reached  the  house  of  Mr.  McGehee,  a  wealthy 
planter  in  Madison  County,  Alabama,  where  we'were 
kindly  received  and  hospitably  entertained.  He  and  his 
family  were  Methodists.  The  second  night  we  reached 
Brother  Allen's  father's  house,  in  Limestone  County, 
Alabama.  The  next  morning  I  set  out  alone  for  my 
circuit.  At  Brown's  Ferry,  on  the  Tennessee  River,  I 
came  up  with   the  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Brown,  who   had 


54  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

been  transferred  to  the  Mississippi  Conference,  and  was 
pushing  on  to  overtake  Bishops  Soule  and  Roberts,  who 
were  a  few  miles  ahead.  At  night  we  came  up  with 
the  company  at  the  residence  of  the  Rev.  Alexander 
Sale,  near  Courtland,  Alabama.  Here  we  tarried  till 
morning,  and  witnessed  the  baptism  of  one  of  Brother 
Sale's  children  by  Bishop  Soule.  I  was  now  in  the 
bounds  of  my  circuit,  but  the  Conference  had  been  pro- 
tracted so  long  that  the  appointments  were  falling 
through.  I  however  pushed  ahead,  and  came  up  with 
the  regular  plan." 


"^g);g^ 


HIS  FIRST  CIRCUIT. 

HIS  first  attempt  at  preaching  on  the  circuit  was  at 
Tuscumbia,  which  was  then  a  new  and  thriving 
village  in  Franklin  County,  Alabama.  This  experience 
is  thus  told  by  himself : 

«  There  was  no  house  of  worship  in  the  place.     The 
various   denominations   occupied   a  small   school-house, 
and  worshiped  together,  or  separately,  as  occasion  might 
suggest.     I  learned  on  my  arrival  in  town  that  the  cir- 
cuiTpreacher  was  expected  to  hold  forth  on  the  next  day, 
which  was  the  Sabbath.     I   felt  easy  for  a  time,  for  it 
was  expected  that  my  colleague,  Brother  Scruggs,  would 
occupy  the  pulpit.     But  he  came  not.     The   morning 
came,  the  hour  of  service  arrived,  and  with  kind  friends 
I  went  to  meeting,  supposing  I  would  have  to  address 
the  people.     How  my  heart  throbbed  as  we  approached 
and  saw  the  house  crowded  with  a  well-dressed,  intelli- 
gent audience!     To  my  great  relief,  as  we  drew  near,  I 
heard  the  voice  of  a  minister  who  had  risen  to  begin 
the   service.     My   heart  leaped   for  joy,  and   I    turned 
away  and  took  my  stand  on  the  outside  of  the  building, 
and  listened  to  the  sermon.     Before  the  minister  (a  Pres- 
byterian) dismissed  the  congregation  he  announced  that 
the  new  circuit  preacher  was  to  deliver  a  sermon  in  the 
same  house  that  afternoon.     The  announcement  struck 
me  nearly  blind.     I  had  thought  that  I  was  relieved  for 
that  day.     At  three  o'clock  I  appeared,  and  did  the  best 
I  could  for  some  thirty  minutes.     The  text  was,  <  Who 

(55) 


56  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

then  can  be  saved?''  Of  the  sermon  I  can  say  nothing, 
only  that  it  was  delivered  with  fear  and  much  trem- 
bling. Here  began  my  career  as  a  Methodist  traveling 
preacher.  Our  circuit  embraced  Franklin  County  and 
a  portion  of  Lawrence  County,  including  the  villages  of 
Tuscumbia,  Russellville,  and  La  Grange,  with  the  adja- 
cent country.  We  had  some  twenty  or  more  appoint- 
ments in  four  weeks,  with  more  territory  to  be  taken 
into  our  work.  The  country  was  new,  having  been 
purchased  from  the  Indians  only  a  few  years  before;  yet 
it  was  in  many  places  settled  by  the  best  class  of  citi- 
zens— wealthy  planters  from  the  older  States,  who  had 
been  attracted  by  the  fertility  of  the  soil  in  this  fine  cot- 
ton region.  There  was,  however,  some  very  rough  and 
uncultivated  country  through  which  we  passed,  where 
we  had  coarse  fare,  small  congregations,  and  miserable 
houses  in  which  to  worship.  In  some  instances  we 
preached  in  private  houses.  The  people  were  hospita- 
ble and  made  us  welcome,  and  this  was  better  than  lux- 
uries without  cheerful  hearts. 

"  Nothing  very  remarkable  occurred  during  the  year. 
My  health  was  good,  my  colleagues  and  presiding  elder 
kind  and  courteous,  and  the  people  bore  with  my  imper- 
fections and  inexperience,  treating  me  as  a  son.  I  gave 
myself  to  reading  and  study,  and  availed  myself  of  all 
the  helps  within  my  reach.  I  adopted  as  far  as  practi- 
cable a  regular  and  systematic  plan.  The  Bible  was  my 
daily  companion;  it  was  read  carefully,  and  with  refer- 
ence to  commentaries  whenever  I  could  have  access  to 
them.  [The  italicized  words  are  significant.]  My  ser- 
mons were  studied  with  a  good  deal  of  care,  and  I  strove 
to  observe  some  system  in  all  my  discourses.  I  was 
rather  a  sober  preacher,  having  not  quite  so  much  fire 


HIS  FIRST  CIRCUIT.  57 

and  enthusiasm  as  many  young  men;  yet  my  heart  was 
in  the  work,  and  my  zeal  increased  with  my  experience 
and  practice.  We  had  a  very  prosperous  year;  many 
precious  souls  were  converted  and  added  to  the  Church, 
and  the  cause  of  God  was  more  thoroughly  established. 
I  formed  many  valuable  acquaintances,  and  contracted 
friendships  that  will  be  renewed,  I  believe,  in  heaven." 
He  says  he  was  at  this  time  a  "  sober  preacher."  No 
doubt  he  tried  to  be  so,  and  had  reason  to  emphasize  the 
effort.  At  that  early  day  he  would  startle  his  congrega- 
tions by  those  sudden  sallies  of  wit,  sarcasm,  pathos,  and 
nasal  effects  that  made  so  many  thousands  laugh  and  cry 
and  wonder  in  coming  years.  A  "sober"  preacher! 
Poor  youth!  he  was  trying  to  keep  off  of  the  rock  of 
levity  on  which  it  was  feared  by  his  seniors  he  might 
split.  How  hard  he  held  in,  and  how  much  he  suffered 
while  wearing  the  strait-jacket  he  needed,  can  not  be 
told.  This  self-restraint  was  no  inconsiderable  part  of 
the  training  of  a  raw  but  high-mettled  youth  who  had 
so  much  to  learn  and  so  much  will  to  curb. 

Among  the  friends  of  this  .period  he  always  spoke 
with  special  affection  of  the  family  of  the  good  Al- 
exander Sale.  "  No  family,"  he  says,  "  contributed 
more  to  my  happiness  and  improvement  than  that  of 
the  Rev.  A.  Sale  and  his  kind  wife  and  affectionate  chil- 
dren. Brother  Sale  was  a  man  of  sterling  worth,  sound 
sense,  and  genuine  piety.  He  took  much  pains  with 
me,  and  did  much  to  help  me  forward  in  my  studies  and 
public  exercises." 

This  year  was  erected  the  celebrated  "  Mountain  Spring 
Camp-ground,"  near  Courtland,  Alabama — a  place  where 
hundreds  of  souls  have  been  converted  to  Christ.  In 
this  neighborhood,  besides  the  Sale  family,  many  other 


58  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

excellent  families  resided.  Here  was  the  home  of  Rev. 
Turner  Saunders,  Rev.  Freeman  Fitzgerald,  the  Har- 
pers, the  Garretts,  and  others.  The  center  of  religious 
attraction  for  this  region  was  Ebenezer  Church;  thither 
the  tribes  went  up  to  worship  in  great  numbers  and  with 
great  fervor. 

The  foregoing  touches  from  his  own  pen  indicate  the 
profound  sense  of  responsibility  and  the  unaffected  diffi- 
dence felt  by  the  young  preacher  in  beginning  the  sacred 
work  of  the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  Self-reliant  as  he 
was,  and  independent  as  he  was  in  his  attitude  and  rela- 
tions with  his  fellow-men,  his  humility  toward  God  was 
always  a  marked  trait  in  his  disposition.  No  young 
preacher  ever  entered  upon  his  high  vocation  feeling 
more  fully  that  his  sufficiency  was  of  God.  No  flip- 
pant, irreverent,  self-parading  youth  has  in  him  the  ele- 
ments of  a  great  preacher.  He  will  either  seek  a  fitter 
sphere  for  himself  in  secular  things,  or  he  will  sink 
down  into  the  ranks  of  the  nobodies  that  infest  the  ho- 
liest of  avocations  on  earth. 


HIS  SECOND  YEAR. 


HAVING  closed  the  labors  of  this  first  year,  the 
young  preacher  visited  his  parents  and  had  a 
grateful,  joyful  reunion  with  the  loved  home  circle. 
The  father  rejoiced  in  the  belief,  after  the  years  tnal, 
that  he  had  advised  wisely  when  consulted  by  his  son 
concerning  his  call  to  the  ministry;  and  though  her 
words  were  few,  the  quiet  mother  looked  upon  her 
preacher-son  through  tears  of  joy,  her  loving  heart 
swelling  with  maternal  fondness  and  pride. 

The  next  session  of  the  Conference  was  held  at  Nash- 
ville  Youno-  McFerrin  attended  in  company  with  his 
father.  Bishop  Soule  presided.  No  memorabilia  of  the 
session  are  at  hand-so  it  must  have  been  harmonious 
and  pleasant.  Young  McFerrin  was  continued  on  tnal, 
and  appointed  to  the  Lawrence  Circuit  with  his  friend, 
Alexander  Sale,  who  had  become  «  effective.  Of  this 
appointment  and  the  year's  work  he  says: 

«  This  field  of  labor  was  immediately  adjoining  my 
first  circuit,  and  embraced  a  portion  of  Lawrence  Coun- 
ty and  the  whole  of  Morgan  County,  Alabama  and 
included  the  villages  of  Courtland,  Decatur,  and  Som- 
erville  Taken  altogether,  it  was  a  pleasant  appoint- 
ment, yet  it  embraced  some  very  rough  and  mountainous 
country.  I  was  pleased  with  my  work,  and  especially 
with  my  colleague,  who  proved  himself  to  be  my  spe 
cial  friend.  The  year  was  one  of  considerable >  prospe,- 
ity.     Many    souls  were   converted    and   added    to    the 


60  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Church,  and  we  introduced  preaching  in  some  neigh- 
borhoods which  before  had  been  without  the  regular 
means  of  grace.  Decatur,  then  a  young  town,  situated 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Tennessee  River,  had  never  had 
any  regular  preaching  by  the  Methodists;  so  we  took 
it  into  our  plan,  and  I  trust  made  some  steps  toward 
the  permanent  establishment  of  Methodism  in  that  vil- 
lage, which  has  since  grown  to  be  a  place  of  consider- 
able importance. 

"  '  Summer  Seat  Camp-ground,'  a  few  miles  south  of 
Decatur,  was  this  year  established.  It  became  a  place 
celebrated  for  Methodist  camp-meetings.  We  had  sev- 
eral interesting  camp-meetings  in  the  bounds  of  the  cir- 
cuit during  the  year,  where  the  power  of  God  was  dis- 
played in  the  salvation  of  sinners.  My  colleague  was  a 
strict  disciplinarian.  He  was  careful  not  only  to  preach 
and  vicit  from  house  to  house,  and  hold  class-meetings 
regularly,  but  to  maintain  the  honor  of  the  Church  by 
a  faithful  administration  of  the  rules  of  the  i  Society.' 

"A  singular  case  occurred  under  his  administration. 
There  lived  an  aged  man  in  the  circuit  who  had  been 
for  many  years  an  orderly  member  of  the  Church.  He 
had  reared  a  family  and  buried  his  wife.  The  old  gen- 
tleman, after  a  suitable  time,  sought  to  repair  the  loss  he 
had  sustained,  and  becoming  acquainted  with  an  aged 
widow  lady  in  the  neighborhood,  he  proposed  the  sub- 
ject of  marriage.  He  soon  found  that  she  was  an  ac- 
quaintance of  his  youth,  and  had  formerly  been  his  wife! 
They  were  married  when  they  were  both  young,  but  by 
some  means  had  become  accidentally  separated,  and  lost 
all  knowledge  of  each  other,  each  supposing  the  other 
to  be  dead.  Each  had  married  again  and  raised  a  fam- 
ily.    Now,  in  their  old  age,  they  were  brought  together 


HIS  SECOND  TEAR.  61 


again.  As  soon  as  the  facts  were  all  well  authenticated 
they  joined  their  destinies  once  more,  and  became  man 
and  wife  without  any  formal  or  legal  ceremony.  A  ques- 
tion then  a^-ose  as  to  the  morality  and  legality  of  the  sec- 
ond union.  Had  they  a  right  to  recognize  their  first 
marriage  contract,  and  live  as  man  and  wife  without  a 
second  formal  marriage  ceremony?  The  question  was 
brought  before  the  Church  and  taken  by  reference  to 
the  Quarterly  Conference,  and  the  case  was  determined, 
if  I  remember  correctly,  that  they  were  lawfully  man 
and  wife  by  virtue  of  their  first  marriage.  My  colleague 
dissented  from  the  decision." 

He  and  the  wise  and  kind-hearted  Sale  were  well 
matched.  The  pushing,  rousing,  persistent  young  itin- 
erant was  ballasted  by  the  steady,  benignant  senior 
preacher.  They  preached,  prayed,  visited  the  people, 
pioneered  new  points,  brought  vast  crowds  together  m 
great  camp-meetings,  and  the  work  of  the  Lord  pros- 
pered in  their  hands.  With  grateful  pertinency  he 
quoted  the  Psalmist's  words  in  relation  to  the  results  of 
this  year's  work:  "  The  little  hills  rejoice  on  every  side, 
the  valleys  also  are  covered  with  corn;  they  shout  for 
joy,  they  also  sing." 


4 

AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 


AT  the  Annual  Conference  which  met  at  Tuscumbia, 
Alabama,  McFerrin  was  admitted  into  full  connec- 
tion, and  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Soule,  who  pre- 
sided during  this  session  of  the  body.  "  The  services 
to  me  were  very  solemn  and  impressive.  The  vows 
taken  deeply  affected  my  heart,  and  I  trust  have  never 
been  erased  " — thus  he  wrote  when  he  was  an  old  man. 
At  the  same  Conference  his  father  was  ordained  elder. 

When  his  appointment  was  read  out  it  must  have  been 
a  surprise  to  the  young  preacher.  He  was  sent  as  a 
missionary  to  the  Cherokee  Indians.  It  was  a  singular 
appointment  for  a  youth  not  yet  twenty  years  old.  On 
what  ground  was  it  made  ?  Was  it  to  tame  the  too  exu- 
berant animal  spirits  of  the  youthful  itinerant?  This, 
we  know,  was  not  an  unusual  procedure  in  those  days, 
when  the  leaders  of  the  Methodist  host  were  usually 
strict  disciplinarians  and  suspicious  of  the  least  tendency 
toward  "airiness"  or  levity.  Both  Bascom  and  Pierce 
had  to  run  this  gantlet  at  the  start.  It  may  have  been 
thought  that  a  campaign  among  the  Cherokees  would, 
if  he  survived  it,  rub  off  the  sharpness  of  some  of  his 
angles,  and  act  as  a  dose  of  humility.  Or  it  may  be  that 
Bishop  Soule  and  his  advisers  in  the  Cabinet  saw  in  the 
young  man  a  sagacity  and  prudence  beyond  his  years, 
and  thought  the  work  among  the  Indians  required  a 
man  of  strong  -physique  and  daring  spirit,  and  without 
family  incumbrance. 
(62) 


AMONG  THE  INDIANS.  63 

It  was  a  perilous  appointment  in  every  sense.  The 
Cherokee  Indians  had  passed  through  the  usual  experi- 
ences of  the  red  men  in  dealing  with  the  white  people 
in  America;  they  had  been  cheated  out  of  their  lands, 
and  goaded  to  desperation  by  repeated  wrongs ;  and 
when  at  last  in  their  frenzy  and  despair  they  resorted  to 
war  they  were  overwhelmed  by  superior  numbers,  de- 
spite the  savage  cunning  and  valor  that  made  it  cost  so 
dear  to  the  victors.  But  the  severity  of  their  fate  was 
mitigated  by  the  benign  influences  of  Christianity,  to 
which  this  tribe  seemed  to  be  more  responsive  than 
most  other  Indians.  This  was  not  the  first  time  nor  the 
last  in  the  history  of  these  United  States  when  the  con- 
servative power  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  has  as- 
serted itself  in  the  alleviation  of  race  difficulties  and  in 
happily  modifying  conditions  otherwise  invincibly  diffi- 
cult and  embarrassing.  It  may  be  that  the  Cherokees 
were  not  more  responsive  to  the  gospel  or  more  ready 
to  assimilate  with  the  civilization  of  the  white  race; 
but  the  conditions  were  more  favorable  to  their  evan- 
gelization. At  any  rate,  the  Christianization  of  this 
tribe  presents  one  of  the  most  romantic  and  thrilling 
chapters  in  the  history  of  modern  missions.  The  Cher- 
okees intermarried  more  freely  with  the  whites,  and 
with  exceptional  results.  The  half-breed  Cherokees 
were  a  fine  race  physically,  exhibiting  the  best  charac- 
teristics of  both  races.  The  men  were  tall  and  well 
formed,  and  the  women,  with  their  queenly  carriage, 
brilliant  dark  eyes,  clear  complexion,  expressive  features, 
and  vivacity  tempered  by  a  natural  dignity  peculiar  to 
themselves,  were  remarkable  for  their  beauty.  The 
weak  and  strong  points  of  both  races  are  visible  in  their 
moral  constitution.     They  are  by  turns  generous,  moody. 


64  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

brave,  suspicious,  true  to  friends,  and  implacable  to  foes, 
with  a  tragic  element  that  flames  out  with  terrific  energy 
when  least  expected.  All  these  characteristics  are  con- 
trolled or  modified  by  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  wThich 
is  to  make  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  and  which  is 
destined  to  mold  all  kindreds,  tribes,  and  tongues  of  men 
into  the  image  of  their  risen  and  reigning  Redeemer. 

With  what  feelings  the  Cherokees  first  received  the 
young  missionary  may  be  imagined.  Timothy  was  not 
less  than  thirty-five  years  old  when  Paul  admonished 
him  to  let  no  man  despise  his  youth.  The  Indians,  ac- 
customed to  associate  wisdom  with  age,  and  prone  to 
look  upon  all  white  men  with  more  or  less  suspicion, 
doubtless  subjected  young  McFerrin  to  a  sharp  scrutiny 
and  unsparing  criticism  when  he  first  appeared  among 
them.  He  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  situation  in  this 
statement:  «  My  station  was  Creek  Path.  It  lay  south  of 
the  Tennessee  (now  near  Carter's  Landing).  My  work 
embraced  three  regular  preaching-places,  besides  a  small 
school  of  Indian  children.  To  this  work  I  went  with  an 
anxious  heart.  I  wanted  to  do  good  and  bring  souls  to 
Christ,  but  I  distrusted  myself."  And  well  he  might,  for 
it  was  a  new  and  trying  poitsion  in  which  he  was  placed. 

"  My  work,"  he  continues,  "  was  not  arduous,  but  it 
was  delicate  and  responsible.  I  taught  the  children  dil- 
igently and  preached  faithfully,  often  making  tours  to 
different  parts  of  the  Cherokee  Nation." 

It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  the  appliances  and 
methods  of  that  school  for  the  Indian  children  were  of 
the  most  primitive  kind.  And  we  run  no  risk  in  saying 
that  this  part  of  the  missionary's  work  was  that  which 
was  least  suited  to  McFerrin's  genius  and  tastes.  Pie 
never  had   much  to  say  about  this  experience  in  peda- 


AMONG  THE  INDIANS.  65 

gogy  among  the  Cherokees.  It  was  not  his  way  to  neg- 
lect any  work  committed  to  him;  but,  with  our  knowl- 
edge of  his  temperament  and  preferences,  we  are  inclined 
to  pity  the  little  brown-faced  boys  and  girls  who  learned 
from  him  their  A  B  Cs,  made  "  pot-hooks,"  and  were 
carried  from  their  "  a-b  abs "  onward  into  the  higher 
mysteries  of  education — such  as  reading,  ciphering,  and 
history  and  geography  in  the  mild  form  suited  to  their 
undeveloped  minds  and  to  the  resources  of  that  first  and 
last  institution  of  learning  that  had  the  direct  benefit  of 
McFerrin's  service  as  a  teacher.  Though  ignorant  of 
his  methods,  we  are  safe  in  the  assumption  that  he  ex- 
acted from  his  pupils  the  prompt  obedience  to  which  he 
himself  had  been  bred  at  home. 

McFerrin's  home  was  at  the  house  of  Edward  Gun- 
ter,  a  half-breed.  He  was  a  man  of  considerable  prop- 
erty, who  spoke  the  English  language  fairly,  and  was 
a  fluent  speaker  in  his  native  tongue.  He  was  also  an 
earnest  Christian,  and  exercised  much  influence  among 
his  people.  He  was  McFerrin's  interpreter.  Their 
method  was  for  them  to  stand  side  by  side,  and  in  short 
sentences  to  address  the  audience — a  method  said  to  be 
very  difficult  to  unpracticed  persons,  but  one  to  which 
a  deliberate  speaker  soon  becomes  accustomed,  and  by 
which  he  can  speak  with  ease  to  himself  and  with 
effect  upon  his  hearers.  "  Gunter  and  myself,"  said  Mc- 
Ferrin,  "  soon  became  so  familiar  with  each  other's 
mode  of  speaking  that  we  could  make  considerable 
headway.  The  words  went  with  a  kind of '  dottble  force" 
That  is  rather  an  original  view  of  the  matter.  And  do 
we  not  get  a  hint  here  concerning  McFerrin's  life-long 
habit  of  repeating  his  emphatic  and  weighty  sentences? 
He  wanted  the  words  to  go  with  a  kind  of  double  force, 
5 


66  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

and  so  he  acted  as  his  own  Gunter.  "  The  effect,"  he 
continued,  "  was  often  visible,  and  a  powerful  impres- 
sion was  made  on  the  multitudes.  We  saw  many  awak- 
ened and  converted,  and  their  after-lives  demonstrated 
the  genuineness  of  the  work  of  grace  upon  their  hearts. 
Untutored,  and  given  to  lives  of  idleness  and  crime,  it 
was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  a  reformation  in  man- 
ners would  be  sudden  and  thorough;  yet  many  of  the 
converts  were  so  transformed  by  the  power  -of  grace 
that  they  really  became  new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Many  Cherokees  died  in  the  faith,  giving  glory  to  God. 

"  The  work  at  this  time  was  enlarging  in  the  Cher- 
okee Nation.  The  Tennessee  Conference  employed  ten 
white  missionaries,  besides  a  number  of  native  preachers. 
The  field  cultivated  extended  from  the  Alabama  State 
line  to  the  mountains  of  North  Carolina.  There  were 
several  large  circuits,  besides  the  station  and  mission- 
schools.  Camp-meetings  were  common  in  several  por- 
tions of  the  Nation,  and  hundreds  were  brought  to  God 
by  the  preaching  of  the  word.  In  this  work  I  took 
part,  while  I  kept  up  the  school.  Some  of  the  children 
made  progress  in  their  studies,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
teaching  a  number  of  them  to  read  understandingly  the 
New  Testament  Scriptures.  One  of  my  pupils — Loony 
Campbell,  a  sprightly  lad — died  during  the  year.  He 
gave  evidence  of  piety,  and  left  testimony  that  he  was 
going  to  heaven. 

"  In  the  latter  part  of  February  I  made  a  tour  into 
Will's  Valley,  which  lay  east  of  the  Raccoon  Mountain, 
for  the  purpose  of  holding  a  meeting.  Having  brought 
the  meeting  to  a  close,  I  left  on  Monday,  in  company 
with  Samuel  Gunter  and  his  sister  Patsey.  We  crossed 
the  mountain,  and  in  the  afternoon  reached  the  Tennes- 


AMONG   THE  INDIANS.  67 

see  River  at  the  mouth  of  Short  Creek,  a  deep  stream. 
Heavy,  rains  had  fallen,  and  the  river  was  overflowing 
its  banks  in  the  lowlands.  We  found  no  canoe,  and 
were  at  a  loss  how  to  cross  the  stream  and  make  our 
way  home.  Night  was  approaching,  and  we  could  find 
no  comfortable  place  for  lodging.  After  consultation,  I 
determined  to  take  a  log,  lodged  near  the  mouth  of  the 
creek,  and  work  my  way  across  the  stream,  and  find  a 
canoe  on  the  margin  of  the  river  below.  Half  undress- 
ing, I  addressed  myself  to  my  work.  Little  difficulty 
was  found  in  dislodging  my  craft  from  its  moorings,  but 
I  soon  found  it  impossible  to  control  the  vessel.  I  was 
directly  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  rapidly  descending, 
with  no  prospect  of  landing  for  six  or  eight  miles.  The 
log  on  which  I  floated  was  large  and  unwieldy,  and  I 
had  neither  paddle  nor  oar.  What  was  to  be  done? 
Finally  I  came  in  sight  of  a  canoe  tied  to  the  shore.  I 
determined  to  abandon  my  craft.  So,  parting  with  what 
apparel  I  had  retained  for  the  voyage,  and  placing  it  on 
the  log,  I  leaped  into  the  stream  and  swam  ashore. 
Chilled  as  I  was,  I  made  my  way  back,  secured  the  canoe, 
and  ascended  the  stream,  where  I  refitted  my  clothing, 
swam  our  horses  across  the  creek,  and,  half  dressed, 
with  cloak  wrapped  about  me,  we  rode  home  in  haste. 
Before  we  reached  the  landing  below  my  craft  had  ar- 
rived— was  espied  by  some  boatmen,  who  recovered  my 
clothes,  supposing  they  had  made  a  speculation  in  be- 
coming the  rightful  owners  of  the  property  of  some 
hapless  voyager  who  had  found  a  watery  grave.  But 
their  joy  was  soon  gone  when  on  dry  soil  the  proper 
claimant  appeared,  took  the  property,  and  went  on  his 
way  rejoicing.  This  was  my  first  and  last  ride  on  horse 
back  without  '  unmentionables.' 


68  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

"During  this  year  I  had  a  great  trial  of  my  faith. 
Reading  much  and  studying  the  sciences,  my  thoughts 
often  "wandered  and  Satan  assaulted  me  sorely.  I  was 
tempted  to  infidelity  or  to  atheism.  I  struggled  and 
prayed,  obtained  temporary  relief,  and  then  Satan  would 
come  again  with  double  force  upon  me.  During  the 
summer  I  visited  a  camp-meeting  in  the  Franklin  Cir- 
cuit, where  my  father  had  charge.  I  preached  and 
joined  in  the  exercises  of  the  altar,  but  my  soul  was  cast 
down  within  me.  My  difficulties  I  had  made  known  to 
nobody,  yet  I  prayed  earnestly  for  deliverance  from  the 
power  of  the  Evil  One.  During  the  meeting  my  struggle 
became  powerful,  and  final  deliverance  came.  My  soul 
was  overwhelmed  with  love.  Such  expansive  views  of 
the  love  of  God,  the  power  of  grace,  and  fullness  of 
redemption  I  had  never  before  realized.  My  doubts 
wrere  gone,  and  from  that  day  till  the  present  I  have 
been  measurably,  free  from  temptations  to  unbelief.  O 
it  was  a  bright  and  glorious  season! 

"  The  camp-meeting  was  remarkable  for  its  success. 
About  one  hundred  and  eighty  souls  professed  saving 
faith  in  Christ.  Many  of  the  best  citizens  of  the  coun- 
try were  added  to  the  Church,  and  Zion  was  greatly 
enlarged  in  her  borders.     It  was  a  time  of  unusual  power. 

"At  the  close  of  this  year  the  Conference  convened 
at  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee.  Here  we  met  Bishop 
Soule  again.  The  Conference  was  an  interesting  ses- 
sion. We  had  several  Cherokee  preachers  present  who 
took  part  in  the  missionary  anniversary.  This  meeting 
was  held  in  the  upper  room  of  the  court-house.  The 
congregation  was  large,  the  house  crowded  to  its  utmost 
capacity.  Soon  after  the  exercises  began  a  great  panic 
was  produced  by  the  report  that  the  floor  of  the  room 


AMONG  THE  INDIANS.  69 

was  giving  way.  Consternation  seized  the  audience, 
and  many  shrieked  for  help.  The  alarm  was  false,  and 
after  some  effort  the  people  were  quieted  and  the  meet- 
ing went  on.  At  this  meeting  I  delivered  my  first  mis- 
sionary address.  The  effort,  I  judge,  was  rather  feeble, 
yet  I  did  the  best  I  could.      I  was  very  much  excited. 

"  From  this  Conference  I  was  returned  to  the  Cher- 
okee Nation,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Will's  Valley 
Circuit  and  Creek  Path.  It  was  four  hundred  miles  in 
circumference,  extending  from  Gunter's  Landing  across 
the  Sand  Mountain  to  the  mouth  of  Will's  Creek,  south 
of  the  Coosa  River;  east  as  far  as  the  junction  of  Eto- 
wah and  Oostanaula  Rivers,  where  Rome  now  stands 
in  the  State  of  Georgia;  then  north,  over  the  Pigeon 
Mountain,  to  the  point  of  Lookout  Mountain,  where 
Chattanooga  is  now  situated;  thence  across  Lookout 
Mountain,  down  the  Lookout  Valley,  into  Will's  Valley, 
and  then  across  the  Raccoon  Mountain  to  the  beginning 
point.  This  circuit  I  traveled  round  once  in  four  weeks. 
The  rides  were  long,  the  fare  in  most  places  hard,  and 
the  labor  performed  heavy.  We  often  swam  rivers, 
sometimes  taking  our  horses  beside  a  canoe;  at  other 
times  we  made  rafts  of  light  timber,  and  placing  our 
saddles  and  baH"2:a2"e  on  these,  we  swam  the  water- 
courses,  pulling  the  rafts  after  us,  having  for  a  tow-line  a 
grape-vine  gathered  from  the  forest.  Joseph  Blackbird, 
a  full-blood  Indian,  was  my  traveling  companion.  He 
was  my  interpreter.  He  was  educated  among  the  whites, 
so  that  he  could  read  and  speak  English  with  some  fa- 
cility. This  was  one  of  the  hardest  years  of  my  itin- 
erancy, but  in  many  respects  it  was  pleasant.  We  saw 
many  Indians  converted  to  God,  and  took  a  number  into 
the  Church.     I  baptized  at  one  time   the  mother,  her 


70  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

daughter,  and  the  grandchildren.  Often  did  the  wild 
woods  ring  with  praise  to  Jesus  for  his  pardoning  mercy. 

"  The  remarkable  men  converted  among  the  Chero- 
kees  and  added  to  the  Methodist  Church,  during  our  mis- 
sionary labors  among  that  people,  were  Richard  Riley, 
the  Gunters,  Trutte  Fields,  Young  Wolf,  Arch  Camp- 
bell, John  F.  Boot,  John  Ross,  the  principal  chief,  etc. 

"  During  my  labors  there  I  preached  the  gospel  to 
some  of  the  natives  who  had  never  before  heard  the 
tidings  of  salvation.  Among  the  converts  was  an  aged 
squaw  nearly  one  hundred  years  old.  I  was  the  first 
joreacher  who  ever  visited  the  celebrated  '  Dirt  Town 
Valley.'  Here  the  Indians  erected  a  log  church,  and  we 
established  a  congregation.  In  after  years  it  became 
celebrated  as  a  camp-ground  among  the  whites  who 
succeeded  the  Cherokees. 

"Altogether,  I  trust  my  two  years  were  profitably 
spent  among  the  c  red  men  of  the  forest.'  It  had  one 
effect  upon  my  preaching — it  led  me  to  be  more  plain, 
pointed,  and  perspicuous  in  my  style.  Preaching  through 
an  interpreter  produced  these  results.  But  my  oppor- 
tunity for  study  was  limited  during  the  last  or  second 
year,  and  then  I  was  cut  off  in  a  measure  from  intelli- 
gent and  congenial  society. 

"  In  reviewing  these  two  years  I  feel  thankful  to  God 
that  it  was  my  privilege  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor 
Indian." 


PREACHES  TO  WHITE  PEOPLE  AGAIN. 


AFTER   his  two  years  of  service  as  missionary  to 
the  Indians  McFerrin  went  up  to  the  Tennessee 
Conference,  held  at  Huntsville,  Alabama,  in  the  autumn 
of   1S29.     The  two  years'  pastoral  limit  precluded  his 
return  to  the  Cherokees,  but  he  never  forgot  them,  and 
they  never  ceased  to  love  him.     He  emphasizes  the  fact 
that  he  "passed  the  Conference  examination"  and  was 
elected  to  elders'  orders.     That  he  dreaded  the  ordeal  of 
that  examination  is  quite  apparent— and  with  good  rea- 
son.    It  was  no  child's  play.     The  fathers  were  not  al- 
ways   highly   cultured    men    after   the    pattern  of    the 
schools;  but  they  knew  the  Bible,  which  was  the  prin- 
cipal text-book   of  the  undergraduates,  and  on  doctrine 
and  discipline  they  were  "  posted  "  in  every  thing  that 
a  Methodist  preacher  ought  to  know,  from  the  Armin- 
ian   side  of  the  «  five   points "  to  the    intricacies  of  the 
most  difficult  questions  that  could  complicate  a  trial  in  a 
Church  court.     McFerrin  passed— and   breathed   more 
freely.     His  two  years  among  the  Indians  did   not^  fit 
him   for  a    technical    inquisition  as  would  the   Biblical 
school    of   Vanderbilt    University    or    Drew    Theolog- 
ical   Seminary.     But    if    he   read   less,   and    recited    to 
himself  alone,  it  is  possible  that  he  did  more  real  think- 
ing  than   many  a    theologue   who  is  content  to  think 
only  other   men's  thoughts  and  to  repeat  other  men's 
words.       The    self  -  educated    man    is  always  at  a  dis- 
advantage in  some  particulars;  and  most  men    of  this 
class  feel  and  deplore  it  all  their  lives.     The  poor  creat 

(71) 


72  JOHN  B.  McFERRIX 


ure  whose  mind  is  made  a  lumber-room  of  forms  of 
words  held  and  delivered  memoriter  is  doubly  a  failure, 
having  neither  the  ability  to  assimilate  and  use  with 
skill  and  vigor  his  scholastic  acquisitions  on  the  one 
hand,  nor  to  develop  on  the  line  of  natural  endowment 
on  the  other.  What  classical  culture  might  have  done 
for  McFerrin  is  a  question  not  without  interest.  It  is 
most  likely  that  it  would  have  made  his  intellectual  life 
broader  and  deeper,  and  given  a  higher  polish  to  the  solid 
granite  of  his  genius;  it  is  also  possible  that  in  the  proc- 
ess much  of  the  flavor  of  his  originality  and  of  the  ele- 
ments of  his  peculiar  power  may  have  been  lost.  Where 
the  blade  is  thin  and  of  poor  metal  much  whetting  de- 
stroys it;  where  it  is  heavy  and  of  fine  quality  the 
whetstone  need  not  be  feared. 

Bishop  Roberts,  whom  McFerrin  held  in  the  highest 
veneration,  performed  the  service  of  his  ordination.  It 
was  done  at  the  private  residence  of  Thomas  Brandon, 
the  Bishop  being  too  sick  to  preach  and  conduct  the  or- 
dination service  in  the  church.  Of  Bishop  Roberts 
little  is  left  to  the  Church  save  the  meager  outlines  of 
his  official  work,  but  he  was  so  reverend  in  presence,  so 
humble,  so  devout,  so  full  of  faith  and  the  Holy  Ghost 
that  where  he  passed  it  seemed  that  a  breath  of  heaven 
had  come  with  him,  and  its  aroma  lingered  long  after 
he  had  gone.  His  name  was  always  spoken  by  Mc- 
Ferrin with  tenderness  and  reverence;  and  to  the  end  of 
his  life,  on  recalling  that  solemn  hour  at  the  house  of 
Brandon,  he  remembered  the  awe  and  ecstasy  that  filled 
his  soul  when  the  hands  of  the  man  of  God  were  placed 
on  his  yet  youthful  head  and  he  was  ordained  an  elder 
in  the  Church  of  God,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and 
of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 


PREACHES  TO   WHITE  PEOPLE  AGAIN.        73 

He  was  appointed  to  the  Limestone  Circuit,  in  North 
Alabama,  lying  immediatel}'  south  of  Huntsville,  and 
embracing  a  portion  of  Madison  County,  the  whole  of 
the  County  of  Limestone,  and  one  or  two  appointments 
in  Giles  County,  Tennessee.  Of  his  work  here  he  may 
speak  in  his  own  words.  The  personal  allusions,  though 
in  most  cases  of  persons  unknown  to  fame,  preserve  the 
names  of  some  who  deserve  to  live  in  the  memory  of  the 
Church  they  helped  to  plant  and  which  they  nurtured 
in  its  infancy,  and  the  incidents  have  the  true  flavor  of 
the  times: 

"  The  country  was  finely  settled  with  enterprising 
planters,  Methodism  was  strong,  and  society  good.  The 
Rev.  W.  L.  McAlister  was  my  colleague,  and  the  Rev. 
Joshua  Boucher  my  presiding  elder.  Two  more  zeal- 
ous, faithful,  congenial  spirits  are  seldom  found. 

"  Brother  McAlister  and  myself  formed  friendships 
this  year  which  were  never  broken.  He  was  a  noble 
specimen  of  a  Christian  gentleman  and  a  fine  preacher 
He  finally  died  in  Texas  a  most  triumphant  death,  being 
at  that  time  a  missionary  to  the  Indians.  Brother  Bou- 
cher was  an  elderly  man,  but  of  buoyant  spirits — a  man 
of  great  native  eloquence  and  much  pulpit  power.  He 
also  has  gone  to  his  reward.  He  long  lived  and  labored 
in  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the  Tennessee  Conference,  and 
especially  in  North  Alabama. 

"  During  this  year  we  had  a  good  work  of  grace, 
many  souls  were  happily  converted,  and  the  Church 
prospered.  We  had  several  good  camp  -  meetings. 
Camp-meetings  in  those  days  were  numerously  attend- 
ed, and  were  productive  of  happy  effects  on  the  public 
mind. 

"  On  this  circuit  there  were  many  valuable  men,  min- 


74  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

isters  and  laymen.  Among  the  most  estimable  was  the 
Rev.  David  Thompson,  a  venerable  minister.  He  was 
a  Scotchman  by  birth;  he  came  to  America  when  he 
was  young;  was  a  teacher  by  profession,  a  man  of  much 
learning  and  pulpit  ability.  He  lived  for  many  years  in 
the  vicinity  of  Huntsville,  where  he  exerted  a  happy  in- 
fluence on  the  public  mind.  He  died  during  this  year  a 
mosf  peaceful  and  happy  death. 

"  Mr.  Thompson  solemnized  the  rites  of  matrimony 
in  many  of  the  best  families  in  the  country.  On  one 
occasion  he  rode  some  ten  miles  through  a  snow-storm 
to  perforin  the  marriage  ceremony  for  two  highly  re- 
spectable young  persons.  When  he  arrived  at  the  place 
of  the  wedding  he  was  very  much  overcome  with  cold. 
Some  one  persuaded  him  to  drink  a  glass  of  wine,  which 
he  did,  afterward  seating  himself  by  a  warm  fire.  The 
gentleman  who  handed  him  the  wine,  out  of  kindness,  put 
a  dash  of  brandy  into  the  glass  without  Mr.  Thompson's 
knowledge.  The  effect  on  his  brain  was  sudden  and 
unexpected,  so  that  when  he  arose  to  solemnize  the  rite 
he  found  himself  intoxicated.  Yet,  having  his  right 
mind,  a  friend  supported  him,  and  he  went  through 
without  any  blunder,  but  was  profoundly  mortified.  He 
reported  the  case  to  the  Quarterly  Conference.  The 
Conference  excused  him,  in  view  of  all  the  facts;  but 
he,  not  satisfied  with  the  verdict,  suspended  himself  for 
three  months,  both  from  the  ministry  and  sacraments  of 
the  Church." 


A  STATIONED  PREACHER. 


T 


HE  next  session  of  the  Conference  was  held  at 
Franklin,  Tennessee.  If  there  was  any  event  of 
special  interest  or  importance  in  connection  with  the  oc- 
casion, McFerrin  makes  no  mention  of  it.  He  does  not 
even  mention  the  name  of  the  presiding  Bishop.  The 
presumption  is  that  the  session  was  peaceful;  that  the 
people  of  Franklin— the  county-town  of  Williamson 
County,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  richest  and  loveliest 
region  of  Middle  Tennessee— were  then,  as  now,  famed 
for  hospitality  and  comfortable  living;  and  that  his  two 
busy  and  fruitful  years  on  the  Limestone  Circuit  had 
brought  him  into  notice  as  a  successful  preacher  and  a 
rising  man  in  the  body.  He  was  "  read  out  "  for  Hunts- 
ville  Station.  This  was  decidedly  an  upward  step  for 
so  young  a  preacher.  How  he  took  this  appointment, 
and  how  he  filled  it,  he  himself  may  tell  us: 

"  This  was  an  important  appointment.  Huntsville 
was  a  beautiful  town  in  the  heart  of  a  wealthy  and  in- 
telligent community;  the  Methodist  Church  was  strong 
in  numbers,  and  had  many  members  of  intelligence. 
The  young  people  were  gay  and  fashionable.  Alto- 
gether, it  was  regarded  as  rather  a  difficult  charge  to 
fill.  I  was  young,  had  never  filled  a  city  appointment, 
and  had  gloomy  apprehensions— great  fear  that  I  would 
fail  and  the  cause  would  suffer  in  my  hands.  Besides,  I 
was  to  follow  an  able  minister,  the.  Rev.  W.  P.  Ken- 
drick      With   this  state   of  feeling  I  proceeded   to   my 

(75) 


76  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

work  depressed  in  spirit.  I  made  the  matter  a  subject 
of  prayer  to  God,  as  I  had  always  done  in  all  my  pre- 
vious efforts  to  do  good.  I  strove,  moreover,  to  increase 
my  religious  enjoyments  and  to  cultivate  the  graces  of 
the  Spirit,  that  I  might  grow  to  be  a  wiser  and  better 
man. 

"When  I  reached  Huntsville  I  was  kindly  met  and 
cordially  received  by  some  personal  friends  I  had  made 
the  previous  year.  An  office  was  soon  procured  and  a 
place  for  boarding  selected,  and  I  went  to  work  in  earnest. 

"  My  congregations  were  large  and  attentive.  I  di- 
vided my  time  according  to  strict  method.  So  many 
hours  were  devoted  to  study,  so  many  to  pastoral  visit- 
ing, and  so  many  to  meals  and  recreation.  I  usually 
preached  three  times  on  the  Sabbath — morning  and 
evening  to  the  whites,  afternoon  to  the  Negroes.  One 
night  in  the  week  we  had  preaching,  and  one  night  pub- 
lic prayer-meeting.  Besides  these,  we  had  class-meetings 
at  different  ..times  in  the  week,  in  addition  to  funerals  and 
visiting  the  sick. 

"  For  several  months  during  the  spring  I  preached  at 
sunrise  on  Sabbath  mornings.  My  congregations  at  the 
sunrise  appointments  were  frequently  good  and  our 
meetings  pleasant.  One  would  suppose  that  here  was 
work  enough  to  employ  our  heads,  hearts,  and  hands. 
Surely  there  was  no  time  to  idle  away. 

"  But  my  health  was  good,  and  God  helped  me.  We 
had  some  prosperity:  several  were  added  to  the  Church, 
and  a  number  were  brought  to  God.  Some  most  val- 
uable acquisitions  to  Methodism  were  made  this  year, 
and  peace  rested  upon  the  congregation. 

"  The  Church  had  been  agitated  by  personal  difficul- 
ties  in  previous  years,  especially  the  year  immediately 


A  STATIONED  PREACHER.  77 

preceding.  These  had  involved  the  preacher.  Now 
they  were  in  a  measure  healed,  and  it  was  hoped  a 
foundation  for  prosperity  in  future  was  laid.  So  it 
proved. 

"  We  set  on  foot  a  plan  to  build  a  new  and  more  spa- 
cious church,  which  was  accomplished  the  next  year. 
To  me  it  was  a  year  of  labor  and  trial,  and  in  many  re- 
spects a  year  of  peace  and  Christian  enjoyment.  My 
personal  associations  were  very  pleasant.  One  of  the 
most  agreeable  friends  I  had  was  Hon.  and  Rev.  John 
M.  Taylor.  He  was  a  local  preacher  of  great  worth 
and  a  man  of  fine  intelligence.  He  had  been  a  lawyer, 
and  was  a  judge  of  the  court,  deeply  pious,  and  of  good 
report.  His  family  was  pleasant,  and  contributed  much 
to  my  happiness.  There  were  others  who  did  much  to 
promote  my  happiness  and  usefulness,  whose  names  I  re- 
member with  great  pleasure — the  Brandons,  Mannings, 
Cains,  Withers,  E wings,  etc. — some  poor,  some  rich; 
the  salt  of  the  earth. 

"  During  this  year  we  had  a  visit  from  the  Rev.  Henry 
B.  Bascom,  afterward  Bishop  Bascom.  He  attended  a 
camp-meeting  at  Blue  Springs,  about  four  miles  from 
Huntsville.  He  preached  several  sermons  of  great  abil- 
ity, but  on  Monday  he  delivered  the  celebrated  sermon 
on  "  The  Resurrection  of  Christ."  The  effect  on  the 
congregation  was  overwhelming.  After  years  and  years 
had  passed  away  that  sermon  was  fresh  in  the  memory 
of  hundreds.  Perhaps  Dr.  Bascom  never  preached  a 
more  powerful  sermon ;  the  writer  certainly  never  wit- 
nessed an  effect  so  overpowering  by  any  other  sermon 
he  ever  heard. 

"  The  effect  of  Dr.  Bascom's  presence  at  the  camp- 
meeting  had  a  very  paralyzing  influence  on  most  of  the 


78  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

preachers  present.  He  was  at  every  service ;  his  praise 
was  on  every  lip,  and  each  preacher  seemed  to  shrink 
from  public  gaze.  The  Rev.  William  McMahon  was 
present.  He  was  Dr.  Bascom's  old  and  long-tried  friend. 
He  brought  the  Doctor  to  the  meeting ;  it  was  his  own 
neighborhood,  and  he  of  course  took  but  little  part  in 
the  preaching,  though  himself  an  able  and  popular  min- 
ister. The  writer  felt  deep  interest  in  the  success  of  the 
meeting;  many  of  his  own  congregation  were  present, 
and  hence  he  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  labor  when  the 
pulpit  was  not  occupied  by  Bascom.  He  worked  with 
zeal,  and  strove  to  address  himself  to  his  task  with  as 
much  fortitude  as  possible." 

There  are  modest  but  unmistakable  intimations  in  the 
foregoing  extracts  that  McFerrin's  mental  development 
was  rapid  and  his  extraordinary  individuality  making 
itself  felt  and  recognized.  There  was  uncommon  metal 
in  a  man  of  his  years  who  could  preach  in  turn  with  Bas- 
com while  McMahon  was  on  the  ground.  The  Hunts- 
ville  Station,  that  he  had  dreaded,  tested  but  did  not  over- 
tax his  resources.  Even  thus  early  was  begun  his  life- 
long habit  of  being  equal '  to  the  occasion,  exhibiting 
that  reserve  force  which  is  perhaps  the  surest  mark  of 
greatness.  His  methods  of  study  and  work  are  given 
by  himself.  He  fails  to  tell  us  what  books  he  read,  but 
it  would  require  no  great  shrewdness  to  make  a  pretty 
good  guess  about  it.  The  Bible  first  and  most  of  all; 
the  works  of  Wesley,  Fletcher,  Clarke,  Watson,  and 
the  Methodist  standards  generally;  the  Armiman  Mag- 
azine; a  sprinkling  of  the  best  books  of  Calvinistic  writ- 
ers, read  inquiringly  and  dissentingly  ;  "  Dick's  Philoso- 
phy of  the  Future  State;"  a  few  of  the  best  standard 
authors  in  English  literature  in  the  departments  of  his- 


A  STATIONED  PRE  AC  HEX.  79 

tory,  biography,  and  possibly  some  of  the  essayists.  Did 
he  then,  or  ever,  read  Shakespeare?  His  writings  and 
his  speech  give  no  sign  that  he  ever  did  so.  The  only 
poetry  he  ever  quoted  was  from  the  sacred  lyrists,  save 
that  at  timeSj  when  he  was  in  his  most  rollicking  mood 
in  debating,  he  would  venture  on  a  couplet  or  stanza  of 
humorous  doggerel  that  would  upset  at  once  his  antago- 
nist and  the  gravity  of  his  audience.  He  read  no  nov- 
els or  serial  stories,  such  as  now  flood  our  literature; 
nor  did  he  read  any  daily  newspaper,  that  scatterer  of  the 
thought  and  robber  of  the  time  of  this  later.generation. 
He  digested  and  assimilated  what  he  read,  and  was  there- 
fore better  read  than  many  who  have  gone  over  a  hun- 
dred books  to  his  one.  Let  it  be  said  here,  the  indis- 
criminate and  excessive  reading  indulged  in  by  many 
persons  in  the  ministry  and  out  of  it,  in  this  age  of  cheap 
printing  and  freethinking,  is  worse  than  illiteracy  itself. 
A  literary  junk-shop  is  worse  than  an  empty  room. 
Keen-sighted  and  wise  John  Wesley  had  in  mind  the 
dissipating  and  enfeebling  effects  of  overreading  and 
aimless  reading  when  he  advised  his  preachers  to  draw 
all  their  studies  oneway.  The  temptations  to  do  other- 
wise were  less  in  his  and  McFerrin's  day  than  now.  So 
let  young  preachers  and  all  other  Christian  people  who 
may  read  these  pages  take  this  kindly  hint. 


A  RISING  MAN. 


McFERRIX  was  now  recognized  as  a  rising  man 
in  the  Church.  He  rose  by  force  of  character 
and  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  work  he  did.  He 
made  the  blunders  inseparable  from  inexperience,  and 
thus  educated  himself  for  better  and  still  better  service, 
as  all  other  men  who  have  risen  in  the  world  have  had 
to  do.  It  is  said  of  him  that  when  he  was  a  boy-Chris- 
tian, just  after  his  conversion,  his  father  would  occa- 
sionally call  on  him  to  pray  at  family  worship.  He 
never  hesitated,  but  was  willing  and  ready  to  do  the  best 
he  could.  In  the  service  of  song  in  the  family  he  would 
sing  as  if  he  were  at  a  camp-meeting,  but  was  now  too 
high  and  again  too  low;  his  father  often  had  to  stop 
him  and  correct  his  blunders.  This  did  not  seem  to  dis- 
courage him;  but,  with  a  desire  to  improve,  he  contin- 
ued to  pray  and  sing  when  called  on  to  do  so.  The 
oftener  he  was  told  of  his  blunders  the  harder  he  would 
try  to  avoid  them.  This  characteristic  exhibited  itself 
now  when  he  was  making  his  way  to  the  front  among 
his  brethren.  He  was  not  backward  in  taking  part  in 
the  discussion  of  questions  that  came  before  the  Church. 
On  one  occasion  an  exciting  question  was  sprung,  in 
which  he  took  a  prominent  part.  After  the  meeting 
adjourned,  the  old  preacher  with  whom  he  had  crossed 
swords  said  to  him: 

"  Brother  John,  I  am  much  older  than  you  are,  and  I 
wish  to  give  you  some  good   advice.      If  you  keep  on 
(80) 


A  RISING  MAN  81 


talking  so  much  in  Church  deliberations  you  will  soon 
talk  yourself  down." 

"Well,  if  I  do,  I  will  talk  myself  up  again,"  was  the 
quick  reply. 

Never  was  a  declaration  of  the  sort  more  perfectly 
fulfilled.  For  nearly  fifty  years  there  was  no  question 
of  interest  to  the  Church  in  the  discussion  of  which  he 
did  not  take  part.  He  got  many  a  hard  blow,  and  gave 
many  a  blow  in  return.  It  was  impossible  for  him  to 
keep  quiet  when  a  contest  was  going  on.  He  was  like 
that  officer  in  the  late  war  who  on  the  day  of  battle  was 
guided  in  his  line  of  march  by  the  sound  of  the  enemy's 
guns,  taking  the  nearest  way  to  where  the  fighting  was 
hottest.  The  three  elements  of  a  ready  and  effective 
debater  were  his — conscious  strength,  strong  convictions, 
and  undaunted  courage.  With  the  frame  and  untamed 
energy  of  an  athlete,  the  vigor  of  his  onset  was  a  won- 
der to  all  and  a  delight  to  those  who  were  on  his  side. 
His  vim  was  splendid,  exciting  the  admiration  even  of 
his  antagonists.  He  took  one  side  or  the  other  with  un- 
doubting  confidence,  and  put  his  whole  soul  into  its  ad- 
vocacy or  defense;  he  was  no  trimmer  or  compromiser, 
but  a  fighter  who  went  in  for  victory  and  felt  able  to 
win  it.  His  courage  rose  with  the  occasion;  he  was 
never  at  his  best  until  he  encountered  some  unexpected 
opposition.  A  rebuff  that  would  have  overwhelmed  a 
timid  man  only  roused  him  to  greater  exertion  and 
evoked  fresh  resources.  "What  a  man  McFerrin  is!  " 
exclaimed  George  W.  Brush  on  one  occasion  when,  at 
the  Louisville  Conference,  he  had  met  and  overcome 
formidable  opposition  in  the  consummation  of  some 
work  he  had  in  hand.  "  His  resources  are  inexhausti- 
ble!" continued  Brush,  in  a  burst  of  admiration,  as  Mo 


82  JOHN  D.  McFERRIN 


Ferrin  stood  before  the  body  a  gladiator,  master  of  the 
arena.  Antagonism  never  intimidated,  but  only  spurred 
him;  apparently  impending  defeats  were  turned  by  him 
into  most  signal  victories.  Such  a  man  could  not  be 
kept  down.  If  by  any  blunder  he  stumbled,  he  was  sure 
to  be  instantly  on  his  feet  and  ready  to  renew  the  fight. 
Had  he  been  the  only  man  of  mark  among  his  col- 
leagues, McFerrin's  rapid  rise  would  not  have  been  sur- 
prising. But  belonging  to  the  Tennessee  Conference  at 
that  time  were  several  men  of  extraordinary  genius,  and 
not  a  few  who  stood  above  the  line  of  mediocrity.  There 
was  Robert  Paine,  the  future  Bishop,  who  had  the  dig- 
nity of  a  Roman  Senator,  the  wisdom  of  a  practical 
philosopher,  the  soul  of  a  hero,  a  wit  that  was  bright 
and  keen,  and  at  times  an  eloquence  that  was  magnifi- 
cent. There  was  Green,  already  rising  before  the 
Church  in  his  grand  proportions  as  a  preacher  of  rare 
powers,  an  ecclesiastical  statesman  wise  and  strong,  a 
conversationalist  who  in  the  social  circle  charmed  those 
who  were  thrilled  and  won  by  his  sermons  from  the 
pulpit,  a  massive,  tactful  man  whose  figure  would  have 
towered  among  the  highest  in  any  company.  There 
was  Fountain  E.  Pitts,  a  very  magician  among  preach- 
ers, who  sung  like  a  seraph,  whose  marvelous  discourses 
were  oratorical  cyclones  set  to  music,  and  who  at  camp- 
meetings  and  other  great  popular  assemblies  swayed  the 
multitudes  at  will,  producing  effects  that  prove  his  title 
to  be  ranked  with  the  greatest  modern  masters  of  pop- 
ular eloquence.  There  was  John  W.  Hanner,  whose 
budding  genius  was  exciting  the  admiration  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  wdiose  silvery  voice  and  almost  matchless  elo- 
cution took  captive  the  hearts  of  the  multitude,  and  who 
rose  in  pulpit  power  until  his  fame  filled  the  Churches. 


A  RISING  MAN.  83 


There  was  Thomas  L.  Douglass  yet  on  the  stage,  a 
mighty  man  of  God,  one  of  the  giant-like  men  whose 
tread  shook  these  Western  lands.  There  was  Thomas 
Aladdin,  as  clean  as  a  snow-flake,  as  wise  as  a  sage, 
whose  preaching  made  truth  as  clear  as  sunlight,  and 
whose  ways  were  as  winning  as  talent  and  goodness 
could  make  them.  And  there  were  others,  still  young- 
er men,  who  became  distinguished  in  Tennessee  and 
elsewhere,  and  whose  names  are  at  this  hour  shining 
with  steady  luster  among  the  lights  of  Methodist 
history  in  the  West.  Grand,  gifted,  holy  men!  He- 
roes, saints,  martyrs,  each  one  is  worthy  of  a  volume 
to  himself;  but  the  limits  allowed  in  these  pages  per- 
mit only  passing  glances  as  the  noble  figures  pass  be- 
fore us  in  the  march  of  events.  Their  names  are  re- 
corded in  the  book  that  shall  be  opened  in  the  great  day. 
Their  monument  is  the  great  Church  whose  foundations 
they  laid. 

It  was  among  such  men  as  these  that  McFerrin  was 
thrown  in  these  early  years  of  his  ministry,  and  the 
stamp  and  power  of  leadership  must  have  been  seen  and. 
felt  in  him  when  they  put  and  kept  him  in  the  front  of 
the  battle.  But  we  shall  miss  the  mark  widely  if  we 
omit  to  mention  that  which  was,  after  all,  the  chief  fac- 
tor in  his  success — absolute  fidelity  to  all  the  trusts  com- 
mitted to  him.  He  never  slighted  any  work  given  him 
to  do.  He  was  willing  to  give  to  it  the  hard  labor,  the 
attention  to  details,  the  concentrated  energy  necessary 
to  all  real  success.  He  was  willing  to  pay  the  price, 
and  the  law  of  sowing  and  reaping  worked  its  sure  and 
gracious  result  for  him.  He  was  in  a  good  sense  a 
thrifty  man;  but  it  may  be  safely  claimed  that,  during 
a  ministry  of  more  than  sixty  years,  he  never  in  a  single 


84-  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

instance  was  known  to  subordinate  the  interests  of  the 
Church  to  his  own,  to  evade  a  responsibility,  or  to  shirk 
a  duty  because  it  was  laborious  or  difficult.  It  was  this 
quality  that  won  for  him  the  confidence  of  the  people 
at  the  start,  and  held  it  to  the  last.  He  possessed  extraor- 
dinary popular  gifts,  and  would  have  contested  for  the 
highest  prizes  on  any  arena;  but  it  was  this  one  golden 
talent  of  fidelity  that  ennobled  and  irradiated  his  whole 
career.  He  was  not  lacking  in  what  might  be  called 
the  arts  of  popularity ;  they  were  with  him  inborn  and 
ineradicable.  He  could  be  grave  in  the  pulpit,  playful 
in  the  parlor,  ready  at  repartee  with  an  assailant,  sympa- 
thetic with  saints,  and  sociable  with  sinners,  hail-fellow- 
well-met  with  casual  acquaintances,  and  solemn  and  ten- 
der at  the  bedside  of  the  sick  and  the  dying.  "  What 
a  politician  he  would  have  made!"  exclaimed  his  friend, 
Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  after  an  hour  with  McFerrin  in 
his  office  in  1SS0;  "he  could  have  had  any  thing  he 
wanted."  This  was  true  enough,  but  he  had  what  too 
many  politicians  lack — a  Christian  heart,  a  Christian 
conscience,  and  a  Christian  purpose  in  life,  and  so  made 
a  straight  line  from  the  day  he  took  upon  himself  the 
vows  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel  until  he  surrendered 
his  commission  with  his  life.  The  pojDular  instinct  is 
infallible;  it  recognizes  a  true  man.  It  may  be  tempo- 
rarily misled  or  confused;  like  the  magnetic  needle,  it 
may  at  times  be  affected  by  disturbing  forces,  but  it  will 
at  last  point  in  the  right  direction.  Let  every  young 
preacher,  and  every  other  young  man  who  may  read 
these  chapters,  take  the  lesson:  honesty,  trueness,  fidel- 
ity come  first  in  the  conditions  of  real  and  lasting  suc- 
cess in  life.  It  is  the  core  of  genuine  manhood,  the 
fulcrum  of  the  lever  that  moves  men  and  communities 


A  RISING  MAN. 


85 


onward  and  upward,  the  grace,  that  elicits  the  commen- 
dation that  will  make  the  judgment-day  a  day  of  tri- 
umph to  every  true-hearted  man  and  woman:  "Well 
done,  good  and  faithful  servant;  enter  thou  into  the  joy 
of  thy  Lord." 


GOES  TO  NASHVILLE. 


THE  Methodist  itinerants  truly  itinerated  in  those 
early  days.  It  was  no  evidence  of  failure  or  cause 
of  complaint  for  a  preacher  to  be  changed  at  the  end  of 
one  year.  Asbury  and  his  colleagues  had  set  the  fash- 
ion that  way.  They  were  called  traveling  preachers, 
and  it  was  no  misnomer.  The  session  of  the  Tennessee 
Conference  the  following  year  (  1S31)  was  held  at  Paris, 
a  new  and  thriving  town  west  of  the  Tennessee  Riv*er. 
The  journey  from  Huntsville  to  the  seat  of  the  Confer- 
ence was  a  long  one,  and  was  made  on  horseback  by 
McFerrin.  Of  that  long  ride  we  have  only  this  item  of 
information:  "On  the  way  I  preached  at  Perry ville,  a 
little  village  on  the  Tennessee  River."  It  was  one  of 
the  many  sermons  dropped  on  the  way-side  by  a  man 
who  was  always  ready  to  preach  at  shortest  notice.  In 
this  respect  he  was  like  his  great  contemporary,  Dr. 
Lovick  Pierce,  who  never  declined  an  invitation  when 
able  to  preach.  Preaching  was  a  passion  with  them 
both.  The  preacher  who  does  not  love  to  preach  may 
yet  be  called  thereto,  but  needs  to  take  a  higher  degree 
in  preparation  for  his  holy  vocation. 

The  devout  Bishop  Roberts  presided  at  this  Confer- 
ence. A  revival — "  a  good  work  of  grace,"  as  McFer- 
rin called  it — blessed  the  session  and  hallowed  it  in  his 
memory.  There  was  usually  a  great  stir  whenever  the 
Methodists  met  in  Conference.  Finding  the  people  ex- 
pectant, they  left  them  rejoicing  in  the  salvation  of  God. 
(86) 


GOES   TO  NASHVILLE.  87 

In  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence the  name  of  John  B.  McFerrin  appears  as  a  re- 
serve— no  small  token  of  confidence  for  a  man  only 
twenty-four  years  old.  A  young  Church  legislator  in- 
deed! It  so  happened  that  he  was  not  then  required  to 
exercise  legislative  functions,  but  this  vote  was  signifi- 
cant and  prophetic;  the  elements  of  leadership  had  al- 
ready appeared  in  the  robust,  ready,  and  resolute  young 
preacher. 

The  rapid  rise  of  McFerrin  as  a  preacher  was  made 
apparent  in  the  next  appointment  assigned  him.  He 
was  sent  to  Nashville,  which  was  not  the  Nashville  of 
to-day,  but  was  even  then  not  only  the  capital  of  the 
State  of  Tennessee,  but  remarkable  for  the  number  of 
its  distinguished  men  and  the  intelligence  and  refinement 
of  its  society.  The  star  of  the  self-taught  young  man, 
divinely  called,  commissioned,  and  equipped  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  was  climbing  upward  in  obedience  to 
the  law  enunciated  by  Bishop  Bascom,  that  "a  measure 
of  success  always  attends  ministerial  fidelity."  We  will 
let  McFerrin  himself  speak  of  his  first  ministry  in  Nash- 
ville: 

"  I  was  appointed,  with  the  Rev.  Lorenzo  D.  Overall, 
to  the  city  of  Nashville.  From  Paris  to  Nashville  we 
had  a  very  pleasant  ride  and  good  company.  One  of 
my  traveling  companions  was  the  Rev.  Edward  Drom- 
goole  Simms,  who  afterward  was  Professor  at  La 
Grange  College,  and  in  the  State  University  of  Ala- 
bama. He  was  a  young  man  of  sweet  spirit,  and  be- 
came very  distinguished  as  a  ripe  scholar  and  successful 
teacher.  He  died  suddenly  in  the  vigor  of  manhood. 
His  death  was  much  lamented. 

"  On   our   arrival   at  Nashville   Brother  Overall  and 


88  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

myself  called  at  the  house  of  Joseph  T.  Elliston,  Esq., 
who  lived  in  the  immediate  neighborhood.  Here  a 
friendship  began  between  Brother  E.  and  myself  which 
was  never  interrupted  till  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus.  At 
our  first  acquaintance  he  was  somewhat  advanced  in 
years,  a  man  of  sound  judgment  and  ripe  experience. 
I  have  known  but  few  men  who  possessed  a  greater 
amount  of  common  sense  or  had  a  keener  penetration 
than  Joseph  T.  Elliston.  He  was  wise  in  council,  pure 
in  intention,  discreet  in  conversation,  unfeigned  in  piety, 
and  zealous  in  the  cause  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  He 
was  indeed  a  pillar  in  the  Church  in  Nashville.  His 
wife  was  every  way  his  equal,  filling  her  sphere  in  a 
style  becoming  a  lady  of  wealth  and  position,  and  a 
Christian  occupying  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  Church 
of  God.  They  are  both  dead.  Each  died  in  the  faith, 
and  left  the  savor  of  a  good  name.  Mr.  Elliston  was 
long  sick.  I  visited  him  often,  and  always  found  him 
trusting  in  God  and  awaiting  with  joy  the  call  of  his 
Master.  I  preached  his  funeral  discourse  on  the  re- 
markable works  of  St.  Paul:  'The  last  enemy  that 
shall  be  destroyed  is  death.'  He  lived  to  see  his  young- 
est son  a  worthy  member  of  the  Church,  who  in  a  meas- 
ure filled  his  father's  place — a  very  difficult  task  to  per- 
form. 

"  We  soon  had  a  meeting  of  the  official  members, 
and  found  many  men  of  sterling  worth.  Among  the 
most  active  was  Joseph  Litton,  an  Irishman  by  birth, 
and  long  a  merchant  in  Nashville.  He  was  a  man  of 
age,  with  a  large  family  of  children.  His  daughters 
were  all  excellent  women  and  ornaments  to  the  Church. 
Mr.  Litton  was  a  good  singer,  a  most  active  and  suc- 
cessful steward  and  trustee,  and  did  much  for  the  cause 


GOES  TO  NASHVILLE.  89 

of  God  in  Nashville.  He  bore  an  important  part  in  the 
Sunday-school,  and  was  one  of  the  best  Church-financiers 
of  his  time.  He  possessed  keen  Irish  wit  and  pleasant 
humor.  He  did  much  toward  the  erection  of  the  Mc- 
Kendree  Church.  He  died  suddenly  of  apoplexy  a  few 
years  subsequent  to  this  time.  I  preached  his  funeral 
sermon  to  a  vast  crowd  of  weeping  friends  who  mourned 
their  loss.  His  wife  too  was  a  noble  Christian  woman. 
She  fell  asleep  in  Jesus  in  after  years,  while  I  was  her 
pastor,  and  now  sleeps  among  the  pious  dead. 

"  One  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  the  Church 
in  Nashville  was  John  Price,  an  old  merchant.  He  was 
very  eccentric,  full  of  oddities,  and  withal  a  man  of  fine 
sense  and  great  zeal  in  the  cause  of  his  Master.  Many 
amusing  anecdotes  were  told  of  him.  He  died  finally 
in  Vicksburg,  Mississippi,  of  cholera.  His  end  was  tri- 
umphant. 

"  Harry  Hill  too  was  in  his  glory  in  those  days,  a 
man  of  great  financial  skill  and  large  liberality.  He 
contributed  largely  to  the  finances  of  the  Church,  and 
oftentimes  was  very  active  in  the  exercises  of  public 
worship.  His  princely  home  was  always  open  to  the 
ministers  of.  Christ.  His  wife  was  converted  this  year 
in  our  great  revival,  and  proved  herself  to  be  a  most 
valuable  member  of  the  Church.  Simple  in  her  man- 
ners and  sincere  in  her  profession,  she  had  the  esteem  of 
all  who  knew  her. 

"Joel  M.  Smith  was  another  excellent  member  of 
the  Church,  a  man  of  consistent  piety  and  uniform  con- 
duct. He  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  died  full  of  faith. 
His  funeral  sermon  I  preached,  before  his  interment,  to 
a  large  audience,  all  of  whom  seemed  to  respect  his 
memory  as  a  good  man  and  true. 


90  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

"  But  time  would  fail  me  to  record  the  names  of  many 
others  who  were  faithful  and  sincere,  and  possessed  many 
virtues.  I  must  not  forget  to  mention  Mrs.  Moore,  the 
mother  of  W.  H.  Moore.  She  was  a  widow,  had  been 
left  in  poor  circumstances,  brought  up  her  children  to 
respectability,  was  a  burning  and  shining  light,  and  died 
in  full  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality.  Her  son,  W. 
H.  Moore,  who  lives  at  this  writing,  has  maintained  a 
good  reputation  as  a  Christian  man.  His  fortunes  have 
been  various  in  worldly  matters,  but  still  he  is  true  to 
his  God.  He  was  an  active  official  in  the  Church  when 
we  entered  upon  our  work. 

"  Brother  Overall,  who  was  my  senior,  was  in  charge. 
He  was  a  pure,  intelligent,  faithful  minister  of  the  gos- 
pel. Both  being  single  men,  we  occupied  an  office  to- 
gether on  High  Street,  near  the  Episcopal  Church. 
Here  was  our  study  and  sleeping-apartment,  and  here  we 
spent  many  pleasant  and  happy  hours.  Our  relations 
were  of  the  most  agreeable  character;  we  lived  and 
loved  as  brothers;  no  jars,  no  unkind  feelings,  but  only 
warm  Christian  affection.  Brother  Overall  died  soon 
after,  and  left  a  brilliant  testimony  in  favor  of  the  truth 
and  power  of  Christianity.  He  died  in  Columbia,  Ten- 
nessee, and  lies  buried  on  the  margin  of  Duck  River. 
His  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  the  Rev.  Robert 
Paine — afterward  Bishop  Paine — at  the  ensuing  Con- 
ference, and  was  attended  by  overwhelming  manifesta- 
tions of  God's  power  and  goodness. 

"  This  was  a  year  of  great  prosperity  to  the  Church 
in  Nashville.  We  had  a  most  extensive  revival  of  re- 
ligion, and  very  many  valuable  members  were  added  to 
the  Church.  Our  labors  were  very  arduous.  The  main 
church  was  on  Spring  (or  Church)  Street  between  Cher- 


GOES   TO  NASHVILLE.  91 

ry  and  College  Streets.  In  addition,  we  had  a  preaching- 
place  on  College  Hill,  one  at  New  Hope,  north  of  the 
Cumberland  River,  and  one  at  the  Nashville  Camp- 
ground; besides  regular  preaching  to  the  Africans,  who 
had  a  church  of  their  own.  We  alternated,  and  worked 
in  all  the  help  we  could  from  the  local  preachers  and 
visiting  brethren.  We  had  a  camp-meeting  this  year 
at  the  Nashville  Camp-ground ;  it  was  a  meeting  of  great 
power,  and  many  were  converted.  Here  we  had  the  aid 
for  one  or  two  days  of  the  Rev.  Edward  Stevenson,  of 
the  Kentucky  Conference.  He  preached  with  much 
power.  Our  meeting  was  transferred  to  the  city,  and 
progressed  for  weeks  with  great  success. 

"  During  this  revival  we  had  a  visit  from  the  Rev. 
Littleton  Fowler,  who  joined  our  Conference,  and  was 
afterward  sent  to  Texas  among  the  first  missionaries 
to  that  new  field.  He  was  a  young  man  of  zeal  and 
piety,  and  was  a  very  efficient  laborer  in  a  revival. 
He  did  great  good  in  Texas,  and  died  full  of  faith  and 
the  Hofy  Ghost. 

"  The  extreme  labor  which  I  performed,  and  exposure, 
brought  on  a  severe  attack  of  fever,  which  detained  me 
from  active  work  for  six  weeks.  My  sufferings  were 
painful,  but  my  joy  in  Christ  was  great.  I  felt  often- 
times that  I  was  on  the  verge  of  heaven.  Before  I  was 
taken  sick  I  visited  Columbia,  and  was  present  at  quar- 
terly meeting,  where  my  father  was  presiding  elder.  I 
preached  several  times,  and  the  Lord  was  with  me ;  pre- 
cious souls  were  converted — among  others,  two  of  the 
sisters  of  James  K.  Polk,  afterward  President  of  the 
LTnited  States.  One  became  a  Methodist,  the  other  an 
Episcopalian. 

"  This  year  we  determined  to  build  a  new  and  larger 


92  JOHX  B.  McFERRIN. 

central  church.  The  work  was  commenced,  and  the 
next  year  McKcndree  was  completed.  We  also  pro- 
jected a  church  on  College  Hill,  which  resulted  in  a  neat 
brick  edifice,  which  was  succeeded  by  'Andrew  Church' 
a  few  years  afterward,  and  then  by  Mulberry  and  Elm 
Street  Churches. 

"At  the  close  of  this  year  I  was  appointed  Agent  for 
La  Grange  College.  My  business  was  to  travel,  collect 
funds,  and  solicit  patronage.  This  appointment  was 
given  especially  in  view  of  my  health,  which  had  not 
entirely  been  restored  when  the  Conference  convened. 
The  work  was  laborious  and  somewhat  responsible." 


ANTITHETIC  EXPERIENCES. 


THE  next  Conference  year  (1832)  was  an  eventful 
one  to  McFerrin,  and  quite  antithetic  in  its  experi- 
ences. Matrimony  and  a  college  agency  came  to  him 
the  same  year — the  one  the  summit  of  earthly  happiness; 
the  other — only  college  agents  themselves  know  what 
it  is. 

The  session  of  the  Conference  was  held  in  Nashville, 
November,  1832.  This  was  the  first  Conference  at 
which  Bishop  James  O.  Andrew  presided  after  his  or- 
dination to  the  episcopal  office.  "  He  conducted  the 
Conference,"  according  to  McFerrin's  notes,  "  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  the  preachers,  and  his  pulpit  ministra- 
tions impressed  the  public  mind  wonderfully.  He  was 
surely  in  those  days  a  man  of  marked  pulpit  ability." 
This  judgment  of  the  heroic  and  saintly  Andrew  was 
that  of  the  Church;  his  pulpit  power  was  wonderful 
when  at  its  highest.  It  was  not  his  sound  theology, 
though  here  he  was  unfailing;  it  was  not  his  rare  com- 
mon sense;  it  was  not  his  deep,  mellow  voice;  it  was 
not  his  fine  person  and  dignity  and  devoutness  of  pres- 
ence and  deportment;  it  was  not  the  fatherliness  of  his 
manner,  blending  authority  with  tenderness — it  was  not 
one  nor  all  of  these  characteristics  that  elicited  the  spe- 
cial wonder  and  admiration  of  McFerrin.  There  was 
another  factor  that  went  toward  the  making  up  of  the 
man  who  bore  himself  in  the  great  struggle  of  1844 
with  the  fortitude  of  a  martyr  and  the  meekness  of  a 

(93) 


94  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

saint,  and  made  the  materials  for  a  biographical  picture 
that  the  Church  will  not  let  die.  Reference  is  here 
made  to  the  "  Life  of  Bishop  Andrew,"  by  the  Rev. 
George  G.  Smith,  which  is  a  unique  and  charming  book 
— unique  in  its  plan  and  charming  in  the  simplicity  of 
its  style,  and  enriched  by  the  letters  in  which  the  man 
of  God  painted  with  his  own  hand  in  imperishable  col- 
ors the  inner  life  of  a  preacher  of  righteousness.  It 
was  the  afflatus  of  the  Holy  Ghost  that  explained  his 
wonderful  power  as  a  preacher.  Under  that  inspira- 
tion his  thought  took  wing,  his  rhetoric  took  fire,  his 
soul  melted  into  irresistible  tenderness,  and  his  oratory, 
descending  upon  a  congregation  like  a  pentecostal  gale, 
swept  all  before  it.  The  plain,  matter-of-fact  preacher, 
who  cared  nothing  for  the  arts  of  the  rhetorician,  and 
scorned  the  stage-tricks  of  the  elocutionist,  mightily  con- 
vinced and  mightily  moved  the  people,  because  upon 
him  sat  the  tongue  of  flame. 

The  first  quarter  of  this  Conference  year  McFernn, 
by  the  appointment  of  Bishop  Andrew,  traveled  the 
Nashville  District  in  place  of  the  Rev.  William  McMa- 
hon,  "  who  visited  the  South  in  behalf  of  La  Grange 
College."  By  "the  South,"  at  that  day,  was  meant 
the  older  Southern  States.  Tennessee  was  then  a  West- 
ern State;  since  then  the  West  has  changed  its  borders, 
and  stretched  on  and  on  until  it  has  reached  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  with  a  little  deflection  northward  it  has 
made  a  leap  across  the  waters  to  Alaska.  No  record  is 
made  as  to  the  success  of  the  eloquent  McMahon's 
Southern  expedition  in  pursuit  of  money  for  Christian 
education. 

After  making  one  "round"  on  the  district,  McFernn 
entered  directly  upon  his  duties  as  college  agent — a  pio- 


AX  TIT II ETIC  EXPERIEXCES.  95 

neer  in  a  service  in  which  many  noble  successors  have 
toiled  and  groaned  and  wept  and  failed,  the  most  oner- 
ous and  perhaps  the  most  thankless  of  any  that  can  be 
found  in  the  line  of  unmistakable  Christian  duty.  That 
he  magnified  his  mission  and  worked  faithfully  we  may 
be  sure.  "  I  traveled  in  Middle  Tennessee  and  North 
Alabama,"  he  says,  "  and  made  small  collections,  amount- 
ing in  all  to  a  few  thousand  dollars.  I  did  avast  amount 
of  preaching,  attending  a  number  of  camp-meetings  and 
other  popular  assemblies."  He  was  in  his  element  at 
these  gatherings,  for  already  he  was  showing  himself  a 
master  of  assemblies.  A  few  thousand  dollars  seems 
now  to  be  a  small  matter  for  building  and  equipping  a 
Christian  college,  but  at  that  day  this  sum  represented 
an  amount  of  work  and  a  number  of  small  contribu- 
tions that  only  college  agents  could  fully  appreciate. 
During  this  tour  he  had  the  pleasure  of  being  with  his 
father,  who  was  presiding  elder  of  the  Florence  (or 
Richland)  District.  "I  was  with  him  often,  and  had 
many  seasons  of  rejoicing  in  his  society,"  he  tells  us. 
Happy  father,  who  was  thus  permitted  to  stand  by  the 
side  of  his  son  on  Zion's  walls,  and  be  the  witness  of 
his  zeal  and  to  mark  his  growing  power  and  widening 
fame !  Happy  son,  who  to  the  blessedness  of  unalloyed 
filial  affection  enjoyed  the  more  sacred  pleasure  of  fel- 
lowship in  the  ministry  of  the  gospel !  This  allusion  to 
the  many  "seasons  of  rejoicing"  they  had  together 
makes  us  linger  a  moment  on  the  page  where  it  is  re- 
corded, which  brightens  with  the  touch. 

This  year  McFerrin  was  married.  This  is  his  own 
account  of  the  important  and  joyful  event: 

"On  the  iSth  of  September,  1833,  I  was  married  to 
Miss  Almyra  Avery  Probart.    This  was,  as  I  regarded  it, 


96  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

an  important  event  in  my  history.  She  was  the  first  and 
only  lady  I  had  ever  addressed  on  the  subject  of  marriage. 
When  I  entered  the  work  of  the  ministry  I  was  im- 
pressed with  the  importance  of  forming  a  character  as  a 
preacher  before  venturing  into  any  matrimonial  alli- 
ances. Hence  I  never  suffered  myself  to  become  enam- 
ored of  the  charms  of  females,  but  pursued  the  even 
tenor  of  my  way,  treated  all  politely,  and  suffered  my 
affections  to  be  placed  on  none. 

"  Now,  having  preached  nearly  eight  years,  and  meet- 
ing one  whom  I  judged  would  make  me  a  suitable  com- 
panion, I  proposed  to  her  a  union  in  holy  wedlock.  She 
was  about  twenty  years  of  age.  Her  person  was  comely, 
her  manners  agreeable,  her  health  and  constitution  good; 
her  habits  of  industry,  neatness,  and  economy  such  as  I 
admired.  She  was  an  only  child.  Her  father  had  died 
when  she  was  very  young.  Her  mother  had  married  a 
second  time,  but  had  no  other  children.  As  to  property, 
she  had  but  little.  Her  father,  William  Y.  Probart, 
was  a  North  Carolinian,  a  nephew  of  Col.  Avery. 
Left  an  orphan  when  young,  he  had  wandered  off  to 
Tennessee,  and  was  long  a  citizen  of  Nashville,  where 
he  was  engaged  in  the  clothing  business.  Here  he  mar- 
ried my  wife's  mother,  Sarah  Johnson,  daughter  of  Ol- 
iver Johnson,  long  known  in  Nashville  as  a  worthy  cit- 
izen. Her  father  left  a  small  estate,  which  my  wife 
inherited.  My  own  fortune  was  slim,  but  money  was 
not  my  object.  A  wife  who  feared  God,  who  would 
help  me  in  my  work,  and  one  whom  I  would  delight  to 
honor,  was  what  I  desired.  M y  selection  was  fortunate. 
We  were  married  by  the  Rev.  A.  L.  P.  Green,  and 
lived  together  for  more  than  twenty  years.  She  proved 
to  be  a  wife  indeed.     She  hindered  me  not  in  my  work; 


ANTITHETIC  EXPERIENCES.  97 

was  active,  industrious,  of  fine  judgment,  and  did  much 
in  helping  me  in  the  support  of  my  family.  For  my 
prosperity  I  was  greatly  indebted  to  her." 

This  was  written  long  years  after  the  faithful  heart 
of  his  Almyra  had  ceased  to  beat,  and  is  his  final  judg- 
ment and  tribute  to  her  memory.  According  to  his  own 
statement,  which  we  are  not  disposed  to  question,  he  was 
most  prudent  and  practical  in  the  matter  of  marriage, 
in  which  so  many  ministers  of  the  gospel  are  hasty  and 
rash.  His  example  is  to  be  commended.  There  is  an- 
other side  to  it,  of  course — not  contradictory,  but  sup- 
plementary. The  divine  passion  mastered  him,  as  it 
masters  all  manly  men  on  whom  it  takes  hold.  He 
was  prudent,  but  his  prudence  happily  coincided  with 
his  feelings.  She  made  a  good  preacher's  wife,  but  it 
was  the  man  John  B.  McFerrin  who  wooed  and  won 
her  in  the  good  old  way — love  the  attraction,  and  guided 
by  the  blessed  providence  that  presides  over  every  true 
marriage.  The  courtship — its  rosy  dawn,  its  delightful 
solicitudes,  and  its  trembling  joys,  its  progress,  and  its 
consummation,  when  the  ardent,  strong-limbed,  fluent, 
popular  young  preacher  obtained  the  thrilling  affirma- 
tive answer  to  the  most  momentous  of  all  questions  con- 
cerning human  relationship — all  this  might  be  imagined, 
but  not  written  down  for  other  eyes  to  read.  Here  is 
a  slight  post-nuptial  touch  that  gives  a  glimpse  of  the 
young  couple  the  first  year  of  their  married  life — a 
poem  in  McFerrin's  own  handwriting  addressed  to  his 
bride : 

TO  MY  WIFE. 
Here,  Myra,  may'st  thou  read  my  thoughts 

When  I  am  far  away  from  thee, 
Gathered  like  autumn  leaves  that  fall 

Upon  a  waveless  sea. 


98  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Here  may'st  thou  trace  the  sunny  dreams 
That  brightened  o'er  my  manly  brow; 

Here  may'st  learn  whence  that  dark  shade 
Which  makes  me  pensive  now. 

Here  may'st  thou  see  the  smile  of  love 
When  rapture  woke  beneath  thy  smile ; 

Here  may'st  thou  mark  the  blanched  cheek, 
While  thou  art  sad  the  while. 

No  ripples  o'er  the  silver  lake 

Of  Hope  or  sable  Memory, 
But  glass  with  magic  skill  thy  form — 

My  heart  is  all  in  thee. 

Thou  art  a  mother  in  my  grief, 

A  sister  in  my  hours  of  sadness, 
Thou  my  child  to  wean  me  from 

My  sorrow  with  thy  gladness. 

Thy  smile  to  me  is  what  the  sun's 

Gay  radiance  to  flowers  may  be, 
Giving  them  life  and  health  and  strength — 

Thou  art  that  sun  to  me. 

Then  when  thou  lookest  within  this  book, 
On  every  page  thou'lt  find  how  dear 

Thou  art  to  me — my  every  thought 

For  thee  is  treasured  here.  John. 

Pulaski,  Tenn.,  May  24,  1834. 

The  verses  are  inclosed  within  quotation  marks,  indi- 
cating that  the  authorship  belonged  to  another  person, 
or  that  McFerrin  was  half  ashamed  of  the  weakness  of 
expressing  himself  in  rhyme.  This  is  the  only  effusion 
in  that  line  that  his  biographer  has  discovered.  The 
facts  that  he  had  been  married  less  than  a  year;  that  it 
was  at  the  season  when  the  fresh  beauty  of  May  was 
ripening  into  the  summer  glories  of  June;  and  that  fair 
Pulaski,  in  Giles  County,  Middle  Tennessee,  was  the 
place,  will  condone  this  one  offense. 


ANTITHETIC  EXPERIENCES.  99 

During  the  session  of  the  Conference  "  a  great  ex- 
citement prevailed  because  of  the  falling  of  meteors,  or, 
as  it  was  popularly  called,  the  'falling  of  the  stars.' 
The  sight  was  grand,  but,"  says  McFerrin,  "  unfortu- 
nately I  did  not  witness  the  phenomenon.  Several  laugh- 
able scenes  took  place  among  those  who  thought  the 
world  was  coming  to  an  end.  Men  prayed  who  were 
not  in  the  habit  of  calling  on  God,  but  their  piety  was 
meteoric.''''  The  writer  of  this  biography  distinctly  re- 
"members  this  marvelous  spectacle,  though  he  was  but 
four  years  old  at  the  time.  It  exceeded  in  its  awful 
splendor  every  thing  ever  witnessed  by  him  on  earth, 
and  he  expects  to  see  nothing  to  equal  it  until  the  trump 
of  God  shall  announce  the  judgment  of  the  last  day. 
No  description  could  give  any  adequate  idea  of  it  be- 
yond what  was  flashed  upon  the  mind  in  a  single  sen- 
tence which  fell  from  the  lips  of  that  wonderfully  rapid 
and  brilliant  declaimer,  Dr.  John  E.  Edwards,  of  the 
Virginia  Conference:  "It  seemed  as  if  a  world  in  the 
midnight  heavens  had  burst,  and  was  flying  in  ten  times 
ten  thousand  glittering  fragments  through  the  sky." 

McFerrin  was  appointed  to  Pulaski,  where  he  staid 
two  happy  and  prosperous  years,  as  may  be  inferred 
from  his  own  account  of  his  pastorate  there: 

"In  Pulaski  I  was  the  only  resident  minister.  Other 
ministers  visited  the  place  occasionally,  but  no  other  pas- 
tor resided  in  the  town.  My  congregations  were  large 
and  attentive,  and  we  had  two  prosperous  years.  I  had 
time  to  visit  my  flock,  read,  study,  and  prepare  for  pul- 
pit work.  Perhaps  in  no  two  years  of  my  ministry  did 
I  make  more  progress  than  in  the  two  spent  in  this  pleas- 
ant town. 

"  I  had  two  good  presiding  elders,  Dr.  Gilbert  D.  Tay- 


100  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

lor  and  the  Rev.  F.  A.  Owen.  The  first  year  we  board- 
ed with  Jacob  Shall,  and  the  second  year  with  N.  G. 
Nye,  Esq.  We  had  very  pleasant  families  and  good 
fare.  My  support  was  ample,  and  the  means  raised 
without  effort.  Indeed,  I  seldom  heard  the  subject  of 
money  mentioned.  The  people  of  the  world  did  a  very 
large  part  in  sustaining  me;  and  then  the  stewards  were 
active.  Such  men  as  Thomas  Martin,  Dr.  Ralph  Graves, 
James  McConnell,  etc.,  never  found  it  difficult  to  raise 
means  to  support  the  Church. 

"  One  of  my  best  friends  in  Pulaski,  not  a  member  of 
the  Church,  was  William  Flournoy,  Esq.,  a  lawyer  of 
influence.  A  few  years  afterward  he  died,  I  trust,  a 
Christian.  He  was  a  noble,  generous-hearted  man,  and 
was  active  in  my  support  in  Pulaski. 

"  In  the  autumn  of  1834,  at  the  close  of  my  first  year 
in  Pulaski,  the  Conference  convened  at  Lebanon.  Here 
the  Rev.  Robert  Paine — now  Bishop  Paine — delivered 
a  funeral  sermon  in  memory  of  the  Rev.  L.  D.  Overall, 
who  died  that  year  in  Columbia,  Tennessee.  The  ser- 
mon was  one  of  the  great  efforts  of  the  preacher.  The 
effect  was  overwhelming.  This  was  the  last  Confer- 
ence ever  attended  by  Bishop  McKendree." 

The  annual  session  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  for 
1835  was  held  at  Florence,  Alabama.  The  event  of 
the  session  was  the  election  of  delegates  to  the  General 
Conference,  which  was  to  convene  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
May,  1836.  McFerrin  was  chosen  among  others.  He 
was  appointed  again  to  McKendree  Church,  Nashville. 
At  that  time  there  was  but  one  charge  in  that  city,  though 
there  were  several  preaching-places.  He  had  supervis- 
ion of  the  whole  work,  with  the  Rev.  Reuben  Jones,  a 
young  man,  as  his  colleague.     "  The  year  was  prosper- 


ANTITHETIC  EXPERIENCES.  101 

ous,  and  the  cause  of  God  advanced  to  some  considera- 
ble degree,"  is  his  brief  but  satisfactory  record. 

He  attended  the  General  Conference.  It  was  his 
first  introduction  to  such  an  assembly,  and  there  was  in 
it  no  more  open-eyed,  inquisitive,  sagacious  observer 
than  this  stalwart,  good-humored  Tennessean.  It  was 
at  this  Conference  that  the  Abolitionists  made  their  first 
decided  demonstration.  The  session  was  one  of  deep 
interest  and  suppressed  excitement.  The  flames  were 
already  kindling  that  were  to  wrap  the  entire  Church 
and  country  in  a  fierce  conflagration.  There  were  only 
a  few  who  had  the  boldness  to  avow  abolition  senti- 
ments, and  they  were  rebuked  by  vote  of  the  General 
Conference.  But  the  anti-slavery  excitement  was  strong ; 
the  moral  convictions  and  aggressiveness  of  one  party, 
and  the  inevitable  resentment  of  the  other,  made  a  con- 
flict that  could  have  no  peaceable  settlement.  Church 
and  State  were  even  then  being  carried  by  the  propul- 
sion of  forces,  seemingly  beyond  human  control,  toward 
the  tragic  scenes  of  the  period  when  the  blunders,  vain 
compromises,  and  empirical  devices  of  statesmen  who 
meant  well,  but  missed  their  aim,  and  Churchmen  who 
too  closely  copied  their  fatal  policy,  were  visited  upon 
the  heads  of  one  generation,  and  the  knots  tied  by  folly 
were  cut  by  the  sword. 

The  spirit  of  the  time  will  be  best  understood  from 
a  glance  at  McFerrin's  own  notes  of  that  General  Con- 
ference of  1836  at  Cincinnati: 

"  Here  was  my  first  introduction  to  many  of  the  noted 
and  distinguished  ministers  of  our  Church.  Among 
those  who  attracted  my  attention  was  Peter  Cartwright. 
He  took  decided  ground  with  the  South,  came  into  the 
convention  of  Southern  delegates,  expressed  his  prefer' 


102  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

ence  for  Southern  preachers,  and  proposed  to  vote  for 
any  slave-holder  for  the  office  of  Bishop  the  Southern 
preachers  might  mention.  In  1S44  he  took  strong 
grounds  against  the  South,  and  became  their  enemy.  So 
we  might  record  of  many  others;  but  I  mention  him  in 
particular,  as  he  was  so  forward  in  effacing  his  sympa- 
thies for  the  Southern  delegates,  and  as  he  may  be  noted 
as  a  specimen  of  many  others.  Thomas  A.  Morris  and 
Beverly  Waugh  were  elected  BishojDS.  The  Southern 
delegates  voted  for  William  Capers,  of  the  South  Car- 
olina Conference. 

"  We  all  left  Cincinnati  hoping  that,  as  the  Abolition- 
ists were  so  thoroughly  rebuked,  we  should  have  no 
farther  trouble  with  them,  but  their  after  history  proved 
that  our  hopes  were  vain.  Orange  Scott,  the  leader, 
persevered;  and  though  he  himself  was  foiled, and  after- 
ward left  the  Church,  the  sentiments  he  inculcated  gained 
ground,  and  finally  swept  the  majority  of  the  Northern 
Church,  ministers  and  laymen. 

"At  this  General  Conference  I  first  met  that  intellect- 
ual giant,  Dr.  Winans,  of  Mississippi.  He  was  among 
the  finest  debaters  I  ever  heard,  and  withal  a  meek,  pious 
Christian  minister — a  man  of  lovely  disposition  and 
warm,  generous  heart.  Here  too  I  first  saw  that  prince 
of  preachers,  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Capers,  and  the  cel- 
ebrated Stephen  George  Rozell,  of  Baltimore.  These 
were  among  the  great  men  in  our  Zion  in  those  days. 
Bishop  Soule  was  in  the  days  of  his  strength,  and  wield- 
ed a  powerful  influence  in  the  Church.  He  was,  I  then 
thought  and  still  think,  the  great  man  of  the  body.  I 
was  the  youngest  preacher  except  two  in  the  General 
Conference.     I  was  on  the  Committee  on  Boundaries." 

After  the  General  Conference  adjourned  he  took  boat 


ANTITHETIC  EXPERIENCES.  103 

to  Randolph,  Tennessee,  and  then  went  by  land  twenty 
miles  to  visit  his  father,  who  lived  in  Tipton  County. 
Here  he  met  for  the  first  time  the  Rev.  John  Early,  of 
the  Virginia  Conference,  then  on  a  visit  to  some  kins- 
folk in  West  Tennessee,  whom  he  described  as  a  very 
active  and  energetic  man,  of  great  vivacity  and  firmness 
of  purpose.  This  is  a  fair  description,  as  far  as  it  goes, 
of  the  future  Bishop.  His  meeting  with  his  parents,  his 
wife,  and  all  his  brothers  and  sisters,  made  this  visit  de- 
lightfully memorable  to  McFerrin. 

Returning  to  Nashville,  he  resumed  his  pastoral  work, 
boarding  with  Mrs.  Lanier,  of  whom  he  speaks  as  "  an 
excellent  Christian  woman,"  and  of  whose  two  daugh- 
ters— "Misses  Lucy  and  Ann" — he  speaks  most  grate- 
fully. His  recollection  of  individuals  was  extraordinary, 
scarcely  surpassed  by  that  of  Henry  Clay  himself,  who, 
it  is  said,  never  forgot  a  face  or  a  name,  and  had  shaken 
hands  with  every  Whig  and  half  the  Democrats  in  Ken- 
tucky. During  this  pastorate  were  formed  personal  at- 
tachments that  were  unbroken  through  life.  He  knew 
by  what  handle  to  take  hold  of  men  of  the  most  op- 
posite kinds.  It  was  to  the  last  a  puzzle  with  many  how 
he  could  be  equally  popular  with  the  demonstrative, 
shouting-  Methodists  who  sat  in  the  "amen  corner"  at 
church,  and  the  wild,  rollicking  horse-racer  or  "treat- 
ing" politician.  He  was  the  people's  man — and  all 
sorts  of  people  were  drawn  to  him  and  held  fast  as 
friends.  The  very  ecclesiastical  combatants  that  he  met 
and  fought  in  the  vigorous  way  prevalent  in  that  day  of 
pugnacious  polemics,  though  they  might  reel  under  his 
heavy  blows,  or  smart  from  the  sting  of  his  ready  wit, 
had  a  secret  liking  for  him,  and  allowed  him  a  license 
of  speech  accorded  to  no  other  man. 


AN  UNEXPECTED  TURN. 


IN  beautiful  Columbia  was  held  the  session  of  the  An- 
nual Conference  for  1S36.  Bishop  Morris  presided 
— a  massive,  fervent  preacher,  whose  printed  sermons 
had  a  great  run  for  awhile,  but  have  been  superseded  by 
later  publications,  which,  though  not  sounder  in  doc- 
trine or  clearer  in  style,  exhibit  more  of  the  qualities 
that  attract  modern  readers. 

The  sickness  of  his  wife  called  McFerrin  home  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  Conference.  A  child  was  born 
unto  them,  but  the  little  flower  bloomed  only  to  fade 
quickly.  It  lived  only  ten  days.  This  first  sorrow  of 
his  family  life  left  a  vivid  impression  on  his  mind,  and 
the  image  of  "  the  little  stranger,"  as  he  called  her,  was 
never  erased.  "It  was  a  sore  trial,"  he  says;  "yet  we 
resigned  her  to  God,  saying,  '  The  Lord  gave,  the  Lord 
hath  taken  away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord.'" 

Before  leaving  the  seat  of  the  Conference,  he  tells 
us  that  he  had  an  interview  with  the  Bishop,  "stated 
his  case,"  and  asked  him  not  to  appoint  him  presiding 
elder,  as  he  "feared  its  responsibilities,  and  preferred  a 
circuit  or  station."  The  wise  old  Bishop  made  a  pru- 
dent answer  to  his  request.  "  He  told  me  that  he  would 
do  the  best  he  could  for  me,"  says  McFerrin.  Doubt- 
less he  did.  This  is  all  that  should  be  asked  of  a  Bishop 
at  any  time,  but  every  man  has  the  right  to  "  state  his 
case."  Ordinarily  it  is  best  to  do  this  through  the  pre- 
siding elder;  only  for  special  reasons  should  another 
(104) 


AN  UNEXPECTED  TURN.  105 

channel  be  chosen  for  communication  with  the  appoint- 
ing power. 

The  very  thing  that  he  asked  the  Bishop  not  to  do 
was  done  by  him.  He  was  appointed  to  the  Florence  Dis- 
trict. He  did  not  like  this.  "  I  felt  sadly  disappointed," 
he  says.  He  was  not  the  first  nor  the  last  Methodist 
preacher  who  has  felt  this  pang — a  pang  doubly  keen 
when  the  disappointment  involves  the  comfort  and  the 
health  of  a  wife.  True  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  of 
whom  the  world  is  not  worthy,  these  Western  lands  owe 
them  a  debt  of  gratitude  that  can  never  be  paid.  And 
when  the  calendar  of  true  saints  is  known  their  wives, 
upon  whom  the  heaviest  sacrifices  often  fall,  will  be 
among  them,  a  nimbus  of  glory  encircling  the  head  of 
each  one  of  these  meek  and  unselfish  women  who  for 
their  Master's  sake  lived  homeless  here  that  they  might 
bring  many  souls  to  Jesus. 

McFerrin  groaned  in  spirit,  but  did  not  flinch.  "  T 
determined,"  he  says,  "to  go  to  the  field  and  culti- 
vate it  as  best  as  I  might.  The  field  was  large,  em- 
bracing Franklin  and  Bear  Creek  Circuits  and  Tuscum- 
bia  Station,  south  of  the  Tennessee  River;  Florence, 
Alabama,  and  Cypress  Circuit,  in  Alabama,  on  the 
north  side;  extending  into  Tennessee  as  far  as  Mount 
Pleasant,  and  reaching  to  Waynesboro  and  Savannah 
west. 

"  The  preachers  were  Benjamin  F.  Weaklev,  Asbury 
Davidson,  F.  G.  Ferguson,  J.  A.  Bumpass,  W.  W.  Phil- 
lips, John  P.  Sebastian,  Jordan  Moore,  Samuel  Watson, 
Jr.,  David  J.  Jones,  Caleb  B.  Davis,  W.  B.  Edwards,  G. 
W.  Martin,  J.  B.  McNeal,  and  Robert  Paine;  C.  D. 
Elliott  and  R.  H.  Rivers,  of  La  Grange  College;  J. 
W.  Kilpatrick  was  missionary  to  the  colored  people  in 


106  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

the  Courtland  Valley.  These  brethren  were  all  no- 
ble spirits,  and  worked  with  zeal  and  harmony.  The 
year  was  very  prosperous.  We  had  many  precious  re- 
vivals. Our  camp-meetings  were  seasons  of  rejoicing. 
I  held  ten  or  twelve  this  year,  and  went  through  the 
whole  camjDaign  without  let  or  hinderance.  I  did  not 
miss  a  single  appointment.  The  preachers  were  all 
paid  their  disciplinary  allowances,  and  the  usual  Con- 
ference collections  were  taken  up.  This  country,  espe- 
cially North  Alabama,  was  in  a  thriving  and  prosperous 
condition.  La  Grange  College,  which  had  been  in  op- 
eration for  several  years,  was  doing  a  good  work  in  the 
education  of  the  children  of  the  Church.  [This  was 
written  late  in  life].  After  a  lapse  of  many  years  it  is 
now  painfully  pleasing  to  review  the  past.  Where  are 
the  preachers  who  were  with  me  on  this  district?  B. 
F.  Weakley,  who  was  a  doctor  of  medicine,  a  man  of 
feeble  health,  located,  married  Miss  Porter,  daughter  of 
the  late  Rev.  Thomas  D.  Porter,  raised  a  large  family, 
and  died  near  Nashville.  He  maintained  his  integrity. 
Asbury  Davidson  was  transferred  to  the  West  Texas 
Conference,  and  died.  He  filled  many  important  ap- 
pointments. F.  G.  Ferguson  was  transferred  to  the 
Alabama  Conference.  He  was  faithful  in  all  things, 
became  a  man  of  influence,  and  died  a  few  years  since 
secure  in  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality.  J.  A.  Bum- 
pass,  who  was  a  very  promising  young  man,  ran  well 
for  a  season,  located,  turned  politician,  and  died.  W. 
W.  Phillips  became  a  doctor  of  medicine,  and  died  years 
ago.  He  preserved  himself  in  purity.  J.  P.  Sebastian 
is  a  local  preacher  and  a  doctor  of  medicine.  Jordan 
Moore  is  a  member  of  the  Conference;  good  and  true. 
Samuel  Watson  is  a  Spiritualist.     This  I  regret  to  say, 


AN  UNEXPECTED  TURN.  107 

for  he  was  a  clever  man.  Robert  Paine  is  a  Bishop, 
highly  esteemed  for  talent  and  piety.  The  Rev.  R.  H. 
Rivers  is  an  eminent  minister  and  one  of  our  best  edu- 
cators, a  Doctor  of  Divinity.  J.  W.  Kilpatrick,  an  aged 
minister,  was  faithful  till  death.  C.  D.  Elliott  located, 
and  did  a  great  Work  as  an  educator. 

"  The  labors  of  the  year  having  closed,  in  company 
with  my  wife  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Watson  I  went  by 
private  conveyance  to  the  Conference,  which  convened  at 
Somerville,  West  Tennessee.  On  the  way  I  visited  my 
father  and  family  in  Tipton  County.  We  found  a  camp- 
meeting  in  progress  near  Covington.  Here  I  preached 
several  sermons.  On  the  Sabbath  I  delivered  a  funeral 
discourse  in  memory  of  Mr.  Robert  Clark,  a  highly  es- 
teemed citizen  and  member  of  the  Church  whom  I  had 
known  in  Alabama  in  the  days  of  my  boyhood.  The 
effect  on  the  congregation  was  powerful.  Sinners  were 
awakened  and  Christians  rejoiced.  The  camp -meet- 
ing resulted  in  many  happy  conversions  and  in  the  ex- 
tension of  the  Church  in  that  part  of  the  Master's  vine- 
yard." 

McFerrin  at  a  camp-meeting  always  meant  a  stir. 
That  funeral  sermon  was  not  exceptional  in  its  effects. 
He  had  much  of  this  kind  of  preaching  to  do.  His 
popularity,  thus  indicated,  was  of  a  kind  that  took  hold 
of  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

The  visit  to  his  parents  was  in  keeping  with  his 
characteristic  tender  filial  affection  and  dutifulness.  If 
any  man  could  claim  the  promise  of  the  fifth  command- 
ment, he  might  surely  do  so.  He  honored  his  father 
and  mother,  and  his  days  were  literally  long  in  the  land. 
What  of  the  dutiful  children  who  die  early,  leaving 
gray-haired  parents  to  go  down  in  sorrow  to  the  grave? 


108 


JOHN  B.  McFERRIN 


The  promise  must  be  dual,  having  both  a  literal  and  a 
spiritual  fulfillment — literal  under  the  Old  Testament, 
and  spiritual  under  the  New,  which  points  to  a  land  of 
promise  fairer  than  that  which  lay  before  the  vision  of 
Moses  on  Nebo's  height. 


RIDING  THE  CUMBERLAND  DISTRICT. 


THE  session  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  for  1837 
was  held  at  Somerville,  in  the  heart  of  the  rich 
cotton  belt  in  West  Tennessee.  "  The  Conference  ses- 
sion was  pleasant,  Bishop  Andrew  presiding,"  says  Mc- 
Ferrin.  "  Here  I  had  a  pleasant  sojourn  with  my  broth- 
er, William  M.  McFerrin,  and  his  family,  who  had  a 
temporary  home  in  Somerville.  Here  also  were  my 
father,  mother,  and  the  rest  of  the  family."  This  was 
enough  to  make  it  pleasant — his  friend,  the  wise,  tender, 
courageous  Andrew  in  the  chair,  and  all  the  McFerrin 
family  circle  together. 

He  was  "  read  out "  as  presiding  elder  of  Cumberland 
District.  "  This  district,"  he  says,  "  lay  north  of  the 
Cumberland  River,  extending  from  the  lower  end  of 
Montgomery  County,  Tennessee,  to  the  extreme  eastern 
portion  of  Sumner  County — embracing  the  towns  of 
Clarksville,  Springfield,  Gallatin,  and  Cairo,  and  coming 
up  to  the  margin  of  the  river  just  opposite  Nashville, 
The  appointments  were:  Fountain  Head,  J.  S.  Davis; 
Sumner,  John  Kelley ;  Gallatin  and  Cairo,  Thomas  Mad- 
din;  White's  Creek,  William  Jared;  Red  River,  O.  E. 
Ragland  and  F.  T.  Paine;  Clarksville,  John  F.  Hughes; 
Montgomery,  William  Moores;  Mission  to  colored  peo- 
ple on  the  Cumberland,  John  Rains.  This  was  a  small 
district  when  the  number  of  appointments  is  considered, 
though  it  covered  considerable  territory.  The  work  was 
very  pleasant,  and  the  preachers  agreeable  and  faithful. 

(109) 


110  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


"  The  labors  of  God's  servants  were  to  some  extent 
blessed;  several  revivals  refreshed  the  Church, and  souls 
were  brought  to  Jesus.  The  camp-meeting  season  was 
very  profitable.  We  held  camp- meetings  at  Cairo,  Sa- 
lem, Fountain  Head,  Saunders's  Chapel,  all  in  Sumner 
County;  at  Cross  Plains,  Shaw's,  and  Settle's,  all  in 
Robertson  County;  and  at  Blooming  Grove,  White 
Bluff,  and  Asbury,  all  in  Montgomery  County. 

"My  family  found  a  home  at  the  house  of  Col.  A. 
W.  Johnson,  near  Nashville.  The  colonel  was  my 
wife's  uncle,  and  had  been  her  guardian.  His  wife  was 
in  feeble  health,  and  desired  the  company  of  her  niece. 
The  good  woman  soon  passed  away,  and  my  wife  for  a 
season  supervised  her  children.  Mrs.  Johnson  was  a 
Miss  Hobson,  a  lady  of  culture  and  piety.  In  person 
she  was  handsome  and  in  manners  agreeable." 

A  survivor  and  witness  of  the  scenes  that  took  place  on 
his  rounds  on  the  Cumberland  District  could  tell  us  why 
McFerrin  emphasized  these  camp-meetings.  They  were 
mightily  blessed  of  the  Lord.  The  preachers  by  whom 
they  were  conducted  were  men  of  God,  mighty  in 
prayer,  whose  preaching  of  repentance  toward  God  and 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  in  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  and  power,  whose  courage  and  sanctified  tact 
were  equal  to  any  emergency.  Entire  neighborhoods 
and  sections  of  country  were  taken  by  these  invaders, 
who  pitched  their  tents  on  the  Cumberland  hills.  The 
attention  of  the  thoughtless  was  arrested,  the  obduracy 
of  the  wicked  was  overcome,  the  prejudices  of  igno- 
rance and  bigotry  were  removed,  the  consciences  of  the 
assembled  multitudes  were  aroused  and  their  sensibilities 
stirred  to  the  depths,  and  in  the  sweep  of  the  religious 
excitement  opposition  broke  down  and  many  turned  to 


RIDING  THE  CUMBERLAND  DISTRICT.      Ill 

the  Lord.  These  were  great  occasions  for  great  preach- 
ers. The  circumstances  opened  all  the  channels  of  their 
souls  for  full  tides  of  inspiration.  The  expectant  thou- 
sands exhibited  no  impatience  if  a  sermon  were  long,  so 
it  had  point  and  power,  and  their  responsiveness  sent 
back  to  the  preacher  refluent  waves  of  feeling  that  bore 
him  upward  to  still  greater  heights  of  spiritual  exalta- ' 
tion,  and  elicited  yet  more  thrilling  bursts  of  impassioned 
appeal  as  he  called  them  to  immediate  decision  in  view 
of  death,  the  judgment,  and  eternity.  The  camp-meet- 
ing was  to  the  preachers  of  that  day  what  the  hustings 
were  to  the  politicians.  Both  alike  were  schools  of  ora- 
tory, and  for  every  illustrious  name  that  belongs  to  the 
history  of  the  State  one  can  be  found  to  match  it  in  the 
history  of  the  Church.  A  camp- meeting  course  for 
young  theologues  now  will  have  to  come  in  as  a  post- 
graduate privilege,  but  it  would  be  invaluable  to  every 
one  of  them  who  possesses  the  essential  elements  of  a 
popular  speaker. 

Thus  the  gospel  was  spread  and  Methodism  estab- 
lished, the  camp-meetings  rapidly  recruiting  the  Church, 
and  the  godly  discipline  exercised  by  a  zealous  and  faith- 
ful ministry  conserving  the  gains,  building  on  solid  foun- 
dations an  ecclesiastical  organization  that  has  blessed  all 
the  land  and  been  one  of  the  chief  factors  in  the  devel- 
opment of  what  is  best  and  most  characteristic  in  the 
life  of  this  people. 

The  next  year  (183S)  the  Conference  met  again  at 
Huntsville,  Alabama.  No  Bishop  being  present,  the 
Rev.  Fountain  E.  Pitts  was  elected  President  of  the 
Conference.  McFerrin  was  re-appointed  to  the  Cum- 
berland District,  which  was  thus  manned :  Gallatin  and 
Cairo,  Thomas  Maddin;  Fountain  Head,  Elisha  Carr; 


112  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

White's  Creek,  A.  Chrisholm;  Red  River,  J.  S.  Sher- 
rill  and  J.  M.  Nolin;  Clarksville  Station,  Samuel  Wat- 
son; Montgomery,  S.  Brewer;  Cumberland  African 
Mission,  John  Rains.  He  tells  us  "  nothing  remarkable 
occurred  this  year  " — which  means  that  it  was  a  year  of 
peace.  There  was,  it  seems,  one  slight  breeze  of  ex- 
citement growing  out  of  a  Church  trial  involving  the 
character  of  a  local  elder — "a  man  of  ability."  He 
questioned  the  legality  of  one  of  the  presiding  elder's 
decisions,  and  the  preacher  in  charge,  a  man  of  ability 
too,  older  than  McFerrin,  sustained  him.  "I  maintained 
my  ground,"  says  McFerrin — a  thing  he  had  a  habit  of 
doing.  Nobody  ever  charged  that  excessive  pliancy 
was  his  failing.  That  the  Bishop  sustained  his  admin- 
istration, and  all  the  offended  parties  became  reconciled 
to  one  another,  justifies  the  belief  that  his  action  was 
legal  and  that  his  spirit  was  Christian.  In  his  notes  is 
this  personal  paragraph:  "On  the  Sumner  Circuit  we 
had  the  Rev.  R.  C.  Hatton.  He  was  a  man  of  fine 
pulpit  ability.  Years  before  he  had  become  disaffected 
toward  his  Church  on  the  question  of  its  government, 
and  withdrew  from  it  and  united  with  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterians.  But  he  was  unhappy.  He  could  not 
preach  their  peculiar  doctrines.  On  reflection,  he  be- 
came satisfied  with  the  Methodist  economy,  and  returned 
to  its  communion.  He  was  happy  and  useful,  and  died 
in  the  faith.  He  was  the  father  of  General  Robert 
Hatton,  who  fell  in  the  Virginia  army  during  the  late 
war  between  the  North  and  the  South.  General  Hat- 
ton was  a  brave  man  and  a  devoted  Christian."  This 
instructive  glance  at  the  times  closes  his  record  of  his 
presiding  eldership: 

"  This  year  closed   my  presiding   eldership.     Three 


RIDING  THE  CUMBERLAND  DISTRICT.      113 

years  I  had  served  in  this  office — one  on  the  Florence 
District,  and  two  on  the  Cumberland  District.  They 
were  years  of  labor  and  responsibility,  but  also  of  suc- 
cess and  enjoyment.  Hundreds  had  been  converted  and 
added  to  the  Church  each  year;  and,  generally,  the 
preachers  were  well  sustained  for  the  times.  It  was  not 
customary  in  those  days  to  give  large  amounts  to  the 
preachers.  A  single  man  was  allowed  one  hundred  dol- 
lars and  his  traveling  expenses;  if  he  filled  a  city  or 
town  station  he  was  allowed  his  board  and  lodging.  A 
married  man  was  allowed  one  hundred  dollars  for  him- 
self, one  hundred  for  his  wife,  and  a  few  dollars  for 
each  of  his  small  children.  Besides,  the  stewards  were 
at  liberty  to  estimate  something  for  his  house-rent  and 
table  expenses.  The  presiding  elder  usually  received 
but  little  on  the  score  of  table  expenses.  There  were 
scarcely  any  parsonages  in  the  South-west  at  this  date. 

"  I  had  no  children,  and  my  expenses  for  board  did 
not  amount  to  much ;  so  that  for  three  years  as  presiding 
elder  I  received  about  six  hundred  dollars  and  a  small 
pittance  for  board. 

"  I  think  I  did  not  miss  an  appointment  during  the 
three  years,  and  generally  I  preached  a  great  deal 
between  quarterly  meetings — sometimes  in  towns  for 
nearly  a  whole  week  without  intermission.  On  the  cir- 
cuits I  often  preached  on  the  week-days,  traveling  from 
one  pastoral  charge  to  another.  The  camp-meeting 
season  was  full  of  labor — from  eight  to  twelve  of  these 
meetings  during  the  summer  and  autumn.  Open-air 
preaching  was  not  so  laborious  after  one's  voice  became 
accustomed  to  out-door  speaking;  but  to  preach  once  a 
day,  exhort,  hold  prayer-meetings,  and  sing,  sometimes 
nearly  the  whole  night,  tries  one's  physical  strength. 
8 


114  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

But  O  these  were  seasons  of  refreshing  to  the  spirit! 
During  the  three  years  several  young  men  were  licensed 
to  preach  and  admitted  into  the  Annual  Conference. 
At  some  points  on  the  fields  I  occupied  it  was  necessary, 
occasionally,  to  preach  on  controverted  points;  espe- 
cially on  baptism — its  mode,  subjects,  and  design.  While 
we  did  not  court  discussions,  we  never  failed  to  try  to 
defend  the  doctrines  and  usages  of  our  Church,  and  to 
drive  away  'strange  and  hurtful  doctrines.'  We  had  to 
encounter  in  some  places  infidelity  and  skepticism.  This 
was  done  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  the  results  were  very 
comforting  to  the  people  of  God.  Montgomery  County 
and  the  town  of  Clarksville  were  infected  with  a  class 
of  open  and  avowed  unbelievers.  These  were  met,  and 
from  time  to  time  the  divine  authenticity  of  the  Script- 
ures was  discussed  and  the  sophisms  of  skeptics  exposed. 
The  progress  of  religion  was  steady  and  its  triumph 
finally  complete." 

That  was  McFerrin — a  peaceable,  pugilistic,  paradox- 
ical polemic,  who  "occasionally  found  it  necessary  to 
preach  on  controverted  points."  The  necessity  for  this 
sort  of  preaching  is  usually  measured  largely  by  the 
temperament  of  the  preacher. 


GEN.  JACKSON  AND  THE  PREACHERS, 


THE  session  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  for  1838 
was  held  at  Nashville,  Bishop  Andrew  presiding. 
The  session  was  pleasant  "  in  some  respects,"  is  McFer- 
rin's  guarded  language.  Some  sectional  jealousies  had 
sprung  up  between  the  preachers  in  Middle  and  West 
Tennessee,  and  a  little  unpleasantness  had  grown  out  of 
the  appointments  made  the  previous  year.  "  These 
things,"  he  says,  "  created  a  little  friction,  but  it  all 
finally  wore  away,  and  the  western  portion  of  the  State 
was  set  off  with  a  part  of  the  States  of  Mississippi  and 
Kentucky,  and  the  Memphis  Conference  was  organized, 
which  cured  all  troubles.  The  two  Conferences  were 
ever  after  as  twin  sisters."  A  touching  episode  of  this 
Conference  session  was  the  visit  of  General  Andrew 
Jackson  to  the  body,  thus  described  by  McFerrin: 

"  During:  the  session  of  this  Conference  General 
Jackson,  ex-President  of  the  United  States,  visited  the 
city  and  expressed  a  desire  to  visit  the  Conference,  as  he 
had  some  old  friends  in  the  body.  Joshua  Boucher, 
Robert  Paine,  and  myself  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  wait  on  the  General  and  escort  him  to  the  Conference- 
room.  The  scene  was  interesting  and  affecting.  Gen- 
eral Jackson  was  growing  old,  had  become  a  Christian, 
and  was  a  great  friend  to  the  Methodists.  He  was  in- 
troduced to  the  Bishop  and  then  to  the  Conference,  and 
after  a  few  pleasant  words  the  body  was  called  to  prayer. 
Bishop  Andrew  offered  a  most  fervent  address  to  the 

(115) 


116  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

throne  of  grace,  while  the  whole  Conference  responded 
with  hearty  A?nens.  The  General  then  passed  down  the 
aisle  of  the  church,  when  each  preacher  gave  him  the 
parting  hand.  When  Cornelius  Evans,  a  plain  old 
farmer-looking  preacher,  grasped  his  hand,  the  General 
exclaimed,  'Mr.  Evans!'  and  both  burst  into  tears. 
Evans  had  been  one  of  his  brnve  soldiers  in  the  Indian 
wars.  They  had  not  met  for  years.  Both  became  sol- 
diers of  Jesus  Christ,  and  now  met  in  the  Church  of 
God.     General  Jackson  recognized  him  instantly." 

By  invitation,  the  Conference  in  a  body  attended  the 
inauguration  of  James  K.  Polk  as  Governor  of  Tennes- 
see. Bishop  Andrew  made  the  closing  prayer.  Its  ap- 
propriateness and  fervency  moved  all  hearts. 

McFerrin  was  again  elected  one  of  the  delegates  to 
the  General  Conference.  The  delegation  from  Tennes- 
see were:  Robert  Paine,  Fountain  E.  Pitts,  John  B.  Mc- 
Ferrin, Ambrose  F.  Driskill,  and  Samuel  Moody. 

For  the  third  time  McFerrin  was  appointed  to  Mc- 
Kendree  Church,  Nashville.  "  I  entered  upon  my  work 
at  once,"  he  says,  "  and  lost  no  time  during  the  winter 
and  early  spring.  There  had  been  an  extensive  revival 
the  year  previous,  under  the  ministry  of  the  Revs.  F.  E. 
Pitts,  A.  L.  P.  Green,  and  W.  D.  F.  Sawrie.  To  nurt- 
ure and  train  the  young  converts  was  an  important  and 
arduous  work.  I  did  all  I  could  as  a  pastor;  the  Lord 
was  with  me,  and  we  had  prosperity." 

In  the  month  of  April,  1840,  with  some  of  his  co- 
delegates,  he  left  Nashville  for  Baltimore,  the  seat  of 
the  General  Conference.  He  mentions  with  pleasure 
the  fact  that  the  Rev.  Fountain  E.  Pitts  and  himself 
were  the  guests  of  Christian  Keener,  father  of  Bishop 
J.    C.  Keener.     The    future    Bishop   was    not    then    a 


GEN.  JACKSON  AND  THE  PREACHERS.       117 

preacher,  and  McFerrin  does  not  tell  us  whether  he  saw 
"  Bishop  timber  "  in  the  slender,  auburn-haired,  fair-faced 
young  man.  McFerrin  was  placed  on  the  Committee 
on  Boundaries,  where  he  did  good  work.  Phineas  Rice, 
of  New  York,  was  chairman — "  a  man  of  genial  spirit 
and  great  humor,"  who  evidently  excited  the  admiration 
of  the  like-minded  Tennessean.  "  Our  committee,"  says 
McFerrin  in  his  notes,  "was  large  and  very  agreeable. 
It  recommended  the  formation  of  the  Memphis  Confer- 
ence. This  left  Middle  Tennessee  and  North  Alabama 
the  boundaries  of  the  Tennessee  Conference." 


BECOMES  AN  EDITOR. 


THIS  General  Conference  of  1840,  at  Baltimore, 
brought  a  surprise  and  a  great  change  in  the  life 
of  McFerrin,  transferring  him  from  the  pastorate  to  the 
editorial  chair.  It  happened  thus,  he  himself  giving  the 
facts : 

"  Four  years  previous  this  General  Conference  (  1836) 
located  a  weekly  paper  at  Nashville,  called  the  South- 
western Christian  Advocate,  and  elected  the  Rev.  Thos. 
Stringfield,  of  the  Holston  Conference,  editor.  Mr* 
Stringfield,  and  a  committee  acting  with  him,  bought 
out  the  Western  ISIethodist,  a  paper  that  had  been  es- 
tablished in  Nashville  in  the  year  1833  by  the  Rev. 
Lewis  Garrett  and  J.  N.  Maffitt.  During  Mr.  String- 
field's  term  difficulties  arose  between  him  and  Mr. 
Garrett,  which  were  afflicting  to  Mr.  Stringfield  and 
injurious  to  the  paper.  The  result  was  that,  notwith- 
standing the  editor  was  an  able  man,  the  enterprise  failed 
in  a  measure,  and  the  paper  became  seriously  involved 
in  debt.  The  General  Conference  was  memorialized 
to  grant  aid  for  its  pecuniary  relief.  This  memorial  I 
presented  to  the  General  Conference,  and  urged  it  before 
the  Committee  on  the  Book  Concern.  The  committee 
reported  in  favor  of  $5,000  for  relief.  I  moved  to 
amend  by  striking  out  $5,000  and  inserting  $7,000.  The 
amendment  prevailed,  and  the  amount  was  given.  This 
was  a  great  relief  indeed,  but  still  left  the  paper  em- 
barrassed. One  condition  on  which  the  General  Con- 
(118) 


BECOMES  AN  EDITOR.  119 

fc  en~e  gave  aid  was  that  if  the  paper  in  one  year  did 
not  promise  success  it  was  to  be  wound  up  and  discontin- 
ued. 

"  Mr.  Stringfield  declined  a  re-election,  and  the  Rev. 
Charles  A.  Davis,  formerly  of  Baltimore,  but  then  of 
New  York,  was  elected  editor.  Mr.  Davis,  after  time 
to  reflect,  declined  coining  to  Nashville,  and  the  Ten- 
nessee Conference  had  to  elect  an  editor  to  fill  his  place. 
Much  to  my  surprise,  and  to  my  deep  regret,  I  was 
elected.  I  could  not  positively  rebel,  and  yet  I  begged 
to  be  excused.  The  paper  was  still  in  debt,  the  subscrip- 
tion-list was  small,  and  I  was  without  much  experience. 
Above  all,  I  disliked  to  be  thrown  out  of  the  pastoral 
work.  My  heart  was  in  the  ministry,  and  in  that  call- 
ing I  wanted  to  live  and  to  die.  But  the  Conference 
said:  *  Take  it  for  one  year;  if  it  prove  a  success,  well; 
if  not,  then  we  will  bury  the  paper  and  allow  you  to 
return  to  the  pastoral  work.'  Bishop  Andrew  said: 
1  Try  it  a  year.  I  will  take  A.  L.  P.  Green  with  me 
to  the  Memphis,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama  Conferences, 
and  we  will  invoke  their  aid;  if  then  it  fails,  you  shall 
be  released.'  I  went  to  work,  but  had  not  the  slightest 
idea  that  I  would  remain  at  the  same  post  of  duty  for 
eighteen  years. 

"  I  had  finished  my  year  at  the  McKendree,  all  in 
peace  and  with  good  results,  and  now  surrendered  my 
charge,  little  thinking  that  this  would  be  my  last  work 
in  that  immediate  line.  Now,  at  this  writing,  nearly 
thirty-five  years  have  elapsed,  and  I  have  been  the  whole 
time  a  General  Conference  officer." 

On  September  4  of  this  year  (184.0)  his  father  died 
in  Tipton  County,  Tennessee.  These  pathetic  words 
show  how  deeply  he  felt  it:  "  This  to  me  was  a  sore  af- 


120  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

fliction.  He  and  my  mother  and  myself  had  all  joined 
the  Church  the  same  day;  he  and  I  had  preached  to- 
gether many  years,  and  now  in  the  vigor  of  life  (only 
fifty-six  years  old)  he  fell  a  victim  to  disease,  and 
'ceased  at  once  to  work  and  live.'  My  love  for  him 
was  very  great."  Truly  it  was  so;  his  love  for  his  fa- 
ther was  the  love  of  a  son  and  the  love  of  a  fellow- 
soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  comrade  in  arms,  a  bond  doubly 
tender  and  sacred.  To  the  last  there  was  a  softening 
tone  and  not  seldom  a  quiver  of  the  lip  when  McFer- 
rin  spoke  of  his  beloved  father.  It  was  a  fitting  coin- 
cidence that  Bishop  Andrew,  by  request  of  the  Tennes- 
see Annual  Conference,  preached  his  funeral  sermon  in 
Murfreesboro,  where  the  session  of  1S40  was  held — 
that  town  being  the  county-seat  of  Rutherford  County, 
in  which  he  had  been  converted,  and  where  he  began  to 
preach  the  gospel. 

A  memorandum  by  McFerrin  informs  us  that  his 
"  allowance  "  for  this  year  was  $700.  On  this,  he  says, 
they  lived  comfortably,  but  "  had  to  practice  economy  " 
as  housekeepers.  A  dollar  was  bigger  and  went  farther 
then  than  now. 

The  feelings  and  aims  with  which  he  began  his  work  as 
editor  are  worthy  of  study  as  portrayed  by  his  own  hand : 

"Entering  now  on  a  new  work,  I  had  many  serious 
thoughts  as  to  my  future.  How  shall  I  succeed  as  an 
editor?  how  will  I  be  able  to  manage  the  finances  of  the 
establishment?  were  questions  that  time  alone  could 
solve.  But  having  consented,  though  reluctantly,  to 
take  the  work,  I  resolved  to  put  forth  my  best  energies. 
My  salutatory  was  published  November  7,  1840,  and 
will  be  found  in  Vol.  V.,  No.  1,  of  the  South-western 
Christian  Advocate" 


BECOMES  AN  EDITOR.  121 

His  editorial  work,  begun  as  he  tells  us  so  reluctantly, 
extended  over  a  period  of  eighteen  years.  He  was 
placed  in  this  position  at  first  chiefly  because  a  man  was 
wanted  who  could  publish  a  religious  newspaper  with- 
out going  in  debt.  It  is  not  strange  that  he  was  disin- 
clined to  take  the  Sozitk-ivestem  Christiaiz  Advocate 
upon  his  hands.  It  was  in  debt,  and  he  had  a  holy  hatred 
of  debt  all  his  life.  It  was  a  paradoxical  fate  that  re- 
quired him  to  wrestle  so  often  with  the  debts  of  the 
Church.  But  it  was  perhaps  the  right  thing  that  a  man 
who  was  such  a  hater  of  debts  should  be  called  on  to  ex- 
tinguish them.  He  put  his  heart  into  the  work.  His 
extraordinary  physical  and  mental  energy  enabled  him 
to  perform  the  work  of  several  men.  He  wrote  edito- 
rials, he  edited  obituaries,  he  wrestled  with  the  volunteer 
poets  (whose  name  then  as  now  was  legion),  he  clipped 
and  pasted  selections,  he  acted  as  mailing-clerk,  he  can- 
vassed for  subscribers,  he  hired  and  paid  the  printers, 
he  preached  at  camp-meetings  and  in  revivals,  and  con- 
ducted theological  controversies.  "  I  preached  a  great 
deal  in  the  city,  in  the  country,  at  funerals,  in  revivals, 
and  at^camp-meetings,"  he  said ;  "  though  called  to  con- 
duct a  paper,  I  was  resolved  never  to  surrender  my  office 
as  a  minister  of  the  gospel." 

These  extraordinary  labors  were  not  in  vain.  The 
Church  was  inspired  with  renewed  confidence;  the  new 
editor's  zeal  and  courage  were  contagious.  Bishop  An- 
drew and  the  Rev.  A.  L.  P.  Green  enlisted  the  brethren 
in  the  three  patronizing  Conferences,  and  Holston  and 
Arkansas  rallied  to  his  support.  The  Publishing  Com- 
mittee, consisting  of  Thomas  L.  Douglass,  A.  L.  P. 
Green,  and  John  W.  Hanner,  heartily  co-operated  with 
the  editor.     The  utmost  economy  was  practiced.     The 


122  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

editor's  salary  was  $800  a  year,  and  the  clerks  and  all 
the  employees  worked  at  as  low  a  rate  as  possible.  This 
virtue  of  economy  he  never  lost.  If  we  admit  that  he 
carried  it  to  excess,  to  it  the  Church  is  indebted  beyond 
what  it  can  ever  know.  He  stopped  the  leaks  that  saved 
more  than  one  sinking  ship. 

That  he  continued  to  preach  at  popular  gatherings  and 
to  dispute  with  the  enemies  in  the  gate  was  quite  nat- 
ural. During  the  three  years  of  his  presiding  eldership 
he  had  gotten  in  the  way  of  doing  such  things,  had  fully 
awakened  to  that  sense  of  power  that  no  strong  man 
lacks;  as  we  know,  he  had  a  natural  love  for  combat, 
and  wras  never  afraid  of  a  "  sanctified  uproar."  In  his 
notes  of  this  first  year  of  editorial  experience  he  tells  us 
with  evident  complacency  that  he  "  had  several  warm 
discussions  with  the  editors  of  the  Baptist  Banner  and 
Western  Pioneer /"  and  he  informs  us  that  he  "also  had 
occasion  to  review  the  teachings  of  Mr.  Alexander 
Campbell  and  his  adherents,  and  to  defend  Methodist 
doctrines  and  usages  against  the  assaults  of  a  number  of 
enemies."  "  In  all  these  controversies,"  he  further  adds, 
"the  Methodists  did  not  consider  that  their  interests  had 
suffered."  Verily,  he  found  occasion  to  review  and  de- 
fend! A  man  of  his  temperament  never  lacks  such  oc- 
casions. But  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  at  this  time  the 
doctrine  and  polity  of  Methodism  were  still  running  the 
gantlet  on  the  way  to  a  conquered  peace.  McFerrin's 
love  of  fighting  was,  we  may  religiously  concede,  a  part 
of  his  providential  equipment  for  the  sphere  he  was 
called  to  fill.  A  calmer,  happier  time  came  while  he 
was  yet  living,  and  no  man  was  then  more  sincerely 
irenic  in  spirit  than  this  warrior  of  the  earlier  and  stormier 
time.     His  pugnacity  was   never   much   abated,  but   it 


BECOMES  AN  EDITOR.  123 


took  a  different  direction  in  the  brighter  day  for  Chris- 
tian unity  that  dawned  before  his  chastened  spirit  was 
caught  up  to  meet  the  saints  of  all  ages  in  the  world  of 
eternal  peace. 

At  the  next  session  of  the  Annual  Conference,  held 
at  Clarksville,  Tennessee,  in  October,  1841,  he  was 
elected  Secretary,  as  he  had  been  for  several  previous 
sessions.  Bishop  Waugh  presided — a  well  -  balanced, 
good  man,  who  did  the  work  of  a  General  Superin- 
tendent quietly  and  faithfully,  never  startling  the  Church 
by  a  flash  of  peculiar  brilliancy,  and  never  harming  or 
disgracing  it  by  any  thing  erratic  in  utterance  or  act. 
He  was  the  kind  of  man  to  whom  the  General  Confer- 
ence has  often  turned  in  preference  to  men  of  more 
brilliant  parts  when  a  position  of  special  responsibility 
was  to  be  filled.  He  was  a  safe  man.  A  safe  man! — 
no  higher  eulogy  or  nobler  epitaph  could  be  coveted  by 
any  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  first  year  of  McFerrin's  editorial  service  was  re- 
garded as  quite  a  triumph.  The  Publishing  Commit- 
tee made  a  very  favorable  report.  The  Conference 
"  resolved  "  that  he  had  done  well,  and  promised  to  be 
M  more  unwearied "  in  their  exertions  to  promote  the 
interest  of  the  paper.  The  neat  mechanical  execution, 
editorial  capability,  and  economical  management  were 
specially  considered.  "  This  hearty  indorsement  at  the 
end  of  my  first  year's  editorial  life  was  very  gratifying 
to  my  feelings,"  is  his  frank  declaration. 

He  attended  the  second  session  of  the  Memphis  Con- 
ference, which  convened  in  the  city  of  Memphis.  He 
went  by  steam-boat,  and  overtook  Bishop  Waugh  and 
others,  who  had  been  delayed  on  the  way.  They  reached 
Memphis  on  Thursday,  November  4,  1841,  passing  sev- 


124  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

eral  wrecks  of  steam  and  flat  boats  by  the  way.  In 
those  days  steam-boat  travel  was  very  uncertain;  low 
water  at  certain  seasons,  fogs  and  high  waters  at  other 
times,  and  delays  by  collecting  and  discharging  freight, 
often  retarded  travelers.  It  was  no  uncommon  thins:  to 
wait  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours  for  a  boat  which 
was  expected  every  hour.  We  believe  McFerrin  when 
he  tells  us,  "  This  was  trying  to  one's  patience." 

The  Conference  gave  him  a  cordial  greeting,  and 
adopted  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  Tennessee  Con- 
ference indorsing  his  work  as  editor  and  publisher. 

"  By  vote,"  he  says,  "  the  Conference  invited  me  to 
preach  a  funeral  sermon  in  memory  of  one  of  the  pre- 
siding elders,  the  Rev.  John  M.  Holland,  who  had  fallen 
at  his  post  during  the  year.  Mr.  Holland  was  a  noble 
preacher;  he  had  long  been  a  member  of  the  Tennes- 
see Conference,  and  was  greatly  esteemed.  At  the  same 
Conference  the  Rev.  Joseph  Travis  delivered  a  funeral 
discourse  in  memory  of  the  Rev.  Malcolm  McPherson, 
another  eminent  man  who  had  died  during  the  year. 

"  Memphis  at  this  time  was  a  young  but  promising 
city.  The  streets  were  almost  impassable  in  wet  weather 
in  consequence  of  the  mud  and  qufcksands.  Still  it 
grew  rapidly,  and  soon  became  a  very  important  city. 
The  Rev.  Fountain  E.  Pitts,  a  member  of  the  Tennes- 
see Conference,  visited  the  Mississippi  and  Alabama 
Conferences  in  the  interest  of  the  paper.  He  had  fine 
success;  both  Conferences  renewed  their  pledges  for  our 
support.  At  the  Mississippi  Conference  the  Rev.  Dr. 
William  Winans  submitted  the  resolution  of  approval 
and  support.  This  was  very  pleasant  to  me,  as  I  re- 
garded Dr.  Winans  a  man  of  great  intellect  and  much 
candor. 


BECOMES  AN  EDITOR.  125 

"  The  Arkansas  Conference,  which  met  about  this 
time,  promised  efficient  aid.  All  these  pledges  greatly 
strengthened  my  purpose  to  sustain  the  paper." 

During  this  year  (  1842)  he  had  what  he  himself  calls 
"  a  long  and  rather  unpleasant  discussion  "  with  the  ed- 
itors of  the  Baptist  Banner  and  Pioneer,  First  and 
last  four  distinguished  Baptists  entered  the  fight  against 
him — Dr.  Howell,  the  Rev.  W.  C."  Crane,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Waller,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Buck — and  finally  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Peck,  of  Illinois,  took  a  hand  on  the  same 
side.  The  controversy — involving  the  doctrines,  usages, 
and  polity  of  Methodism — was  continued  through  sev- 
eral months,  and  was,  as  McFerrin  tells  us,  at  times 
angry  and  personal ;  "  but,"  he  adds,  "  I  strove  to  keep 
my  temper  and  maintain  my  ground  upon  fair  and  hon- 
orable terms.  Sometimes  I  had  to  resort  to  wit  and 
sarcasm  to  ward  off  their  severe  assaults;  but  in  all 
things  I  endeavored  to  demean  myself  properly.  The 
result  was  favorable  to  the  cause  of  Methodism,  espe- 
cially in  Tennessee." 

That  is  the  way  he  puts  it.  He  had  to  fight  for  his 
Church;  he  had  to  use  the  wit  and  sarcasm  with  which 
he  was  so  largely  furnished.  It  is  evident  that  those 
brawny  Baptists  struck  him  hard,  and  it  is  no  less  evi- 
dent that  he  struck  back  with  all  his  might.  Who 
began  the  fray  is  left  to  the  inference  of  the  reader. 
That  he  rather  enjoyed  it,  and  felt  that  he  came  off 
victorious,  seems  also  pretty  clear.  It  is  likely  that 
from  the  other  side  there  was  a  different  version  of  the 
matter.  Who  ever  heard  of  a  contest  of  this  sort  in 
which  both  parties  did  not  claim  the  victory?  But  it  is 
safe  to  conclude  that  if  McFerrin  did  not  get  the  best 
of  the   argument,  by   his  wit  and   sarcasm    he  got  the 


126  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

laugh  on  his  opponents,  and  that  his  persistent  pugnac- 
ity got  him  the  last  word.  We  give  him  our  cordial 
credence  when  he  says  that  he  strove  to  keep  his  tem- 
per, but  his  words  have  a  semi-apologetical  tone  that 
leads  us  to  think  that  he  himself  had  some  misgivings 
as  to  whether  he  had  achieved  perfect  success  in  this 
laudable  endeavor.  In  this,  as  in  innumerable  instances 
of  a  similar  kind,  it  is  probable  that  no  little  ink  was 
wasted  on  side-issues,  verbal  quirks  and  quibbles,  and 
the  personalities  that  seemed  to  have  a  bitter  taste  in  his 
mouth  long  years  after  the  fight  was  over.  The  gen- 
tle, scholarly,  and  eloquent  Howell,  his  chief  antagonist, 
afterward  became  McFerrin's  warm  friend  in  Nashville; 
and  when  he  died,  in  the  prime  of  his  noble  powers 
and  in  the  midst  of  a  fruitful  ministry,  McFerrin  was 
among  the  mourners  and  took  part  in  the  funeral  serv- 
ices. They  have  met  on  Mount  Zion,  where  they  see 
the  unveiled  truth  in  the  light  of  eternity,  and  where, 
we  venture  to  affirm,  they  both  realize  with  ineffable 
satisfaction  that  their  little  differences  in  belief  on  earth 
were  as  nothing  compared  to  the  vital  principles  and 
precious  facts  of  the  gospel  which  they  held  in  com- 
mon. The  intimacy  begun  before  Dr.  Howell's  trans- 
lation, renewed  in  that  fairer  clime,  will  henceforth 
know  neither  interruption  nor  end.  Blessed  be  God  for 
the  assurance  that  every  believing  heart  that  longs  for 
the  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  dies  without  the 
sight,  will  find  it  in  the  Church  triumphant! 

The  militant  McFerrins  have  their  function  in  stormy 
times  in  the  Church  below,  but  their  hearts  too  will 
thrill  with  ecstatic  joy  when  they  shall  see  the  King  in 
his  beauty,  his  throne  encircled  by  the  emerald  arch  that 
symbolizes  the  blessed  fact  that  the  storms  are  all  over! 


BECOMES  AN  EDITOR.  127 


This  year  (1842)  his  daughter  Sarah  Jane  was  born; 
a  child  that  was   a  life-long  joy  to  his  heart,  singularly 
like  himself  in  physical  features,  and  exhibiting  many  of 
his  most  marked  moral  characteristics,  softened  and  re- 
fined  by  a  sweet   and    attractive   womanliness.     Forty 
years  afterward    he  traced    these   tender  words :    "  She 
was  the  first  child  we  had   to  live.      She  was  a    great 
comfort  to  me  and  my  beloved  wife.      She  was  spared 
to  us,  but   lost  her  mother  when  she  was  about  twelve 
years  old.      She  was  trained  by  her  grandmother  and 
her  step-mother,  and  graduated  from  the  school  of  Dr. 
J.  O.  Church,  in  Columbia,  Tennessee,  when  about  sev- 
enteen years  old.      She  afterward  was  married  to  Mr. 
James  Anderson,  and  is  now  the  mother  of  six  children. 
She  was  always  an  obedient  and  affectionate  child  and 
greatly  beloved."     To  see  them  together— the  rugged 
and   masterful    champion   of  orthodox   Methodism,  and 
his  softened  counterpart  in  the  person  of  this  child  of 
his  early  love— was  beautiful.      It  was  parental  and  filial 
affection   in  perpetual  flower.      They  who  tell   us  that 
such  an  affection  as  this  will  perish  at  death  impeach  the 
goodness  of  the  gracious  God  who  hath  ordained  and 
hallowed  the  sacred  relations  that  make  a  Christian  fam- 
ily on  earth  the  truest  type  of  the  blessedness  that  awaits 
the  whole  family  of  the  redeemed  in  that  world  where 
the  home-longings  of  the  soul  shall  be  satisfied,  and  they 
who  have  loved  shall  meet  to  part  no  more.     O  Father 
in  heaven,  if  this  longing  shall   not  be  satisfied,   then 
must  these  human  hearts  thou  hast  given  us  be  wholly 
changed  ere  heaven  could  be  heaven  to  us! 

The  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  was  all  aflame  with 
revivals  this  year.  McFerrin  threw  himself  into  these 
special  labors  with  all  his  might.    At  quarterly  meetings, 


128  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

camp-meetings,  and  on  other  occasions,  he  was  ready  for 
preaching;  and  the  people  were  as  glad  to  hear  him  as 
he  was  ready  to  preach.  His  coming  was  the  signal  for 
a  popular  rally.  The  Methodists  recognized  in  him  an 
undaunted  and  unconquerable  champion  of  their  faith, 
and  all  classes  of  people  felt  the  attraction  of  his  mag- 
netism, smiled  at  his  quaint  sayings,  were  conscience- 
smitten  by  his  pungent  appeals,  and  wept  at  his  pathos, 
which  at  times  no  heart  could  resist.  In  Nashville  the 
word  of  God  mightily  prevailed.  A  great  company  of 
converts  were  received  into  the  Methodist  Church,  Mc- 
Ferrin  taking  a  most  active  part  in  all  the  work,  vindi- 
cating the  truth  of  his  declaration:  "Preaching  was  a 
work  to  which  I  felt  God  had  called  me,  and  I  was  de- 
termined to  slack  not  .in  this  holy  vocation."  It  was 
well  both  for  him  and  for  the  Church  that  he  adhered 
through  life  to  this  wise  determination.  The  man  who 
is  truly  called  of  God  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  is 
never  absolved  from  the  responsibility  of  that  call,  ex- 
cept by  death  or  by  positive  providential  disability.  If 
he  had  allowed  the  editor  to  absorb  the  preacher,  Mc- 
Ferrin  would  have  been  a  less  efficient  editor  and  would 
have  incurred  the  risk  of  losing  the  prophetic  gift. 


UNDER  FULL  HEADWAY. 


THE  seat  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  for  the  ses- 
sion of  1842  was  Athens,  Alabama.  The  territory 
of  the  Conference  at  this  time  embraced  Middle  Ten- 
nessee and  all  that  part  of  the  State  of  Alabama  watered 
by  the  Tennessee  River,  known  as  North  Alabama. 

McFerrin  made  the  journey  from  Nashville  on  horse- 
back, in  company  with  the  Rev.  John  W.  Hanner  and 
eight  others.  That  was  a  lively  party  that  thus  rode 
together  through  that  beautiful  region  in  its  autumnal 
glory.  The  long  miles  were  made  short  by  the  relation 
of  itinerant  experience,  anecdote,  snatches  of  spiritual 
songs,  and  sallies  of  wit  and  humor  within  the  bounds 
of  ministerial  decorum.  As  they  went  they  preached. 
At  Columbia,  which  place  they  reached  on  Friday  even- 
ing, McFerrin  preached.  His  subject  was,  "  The  Work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  Salvation  of  the  Believing 
Sinner."  That  was  a  gospel  theme,  and  no  doubt  it 
was  handled  in  orthodox  fashion.  The  next  morning 
he  visited  the  grave  of  the  Rev.  L.  D.  Overall,  his  col- 
league in  Nashville  in  1834,  who  was  buried  near  Co- 
lumbia, whose  memory  he  still  cherished.  Reaching 
Pulaski  on  Saturday,  they  had  preaching  on  Saturday 
night  and  three  times  on  Sunday.  The  power  of  God 
was  manifest  in  the  congregation.  Remaining  with  a 
part  of  his  company  until  Tuesday  morning,  McFerrin 
preached  again  on  Monday  night,  and  had  "  a  time  of 
great  power,"  several  persons  being  happily  converted, 
9  (129) 


130  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

among  them  some  of  the  most  influential  persons  in  the 
town.  His  pastorate  in  Pulaski  in  1834  and  1835  nac* 
elicited  a  mutual  affection  between  him  and  the  people  of 
that  place,  and  his  hearers  were  thus  made  more  receptive 
of  the  message  of  God  from  his  lips.  "  I  loved  that 
people  dearly,"  he  declares;  and  it  is  not  strange  that  he 
retained  a  special  regard  for  Pulaski,  where  he  hadspent 
two  years  of  successful  labor,  hallowed  by  recollections 
of  the  wife  of  his  youth,  whose  image  came  back  to 
him  whenever  he  thought  of  the  place. 

McFerrin  was  again  made  Secretary  of  the  Confer- 
ence. Bishop  Andrew,  who  presided,  was  in  the  spirit 
of  his  work.  His  sermons  and  addresses  made  a  pro- 
found impression  upon  the  Conference  and  the  commu- 
nity. The  Conference  was  held  in  the  court-house, 
while  preaching  was  kept  up  morning,  afternoon,  and 
night  in  the  Methodist  church.  That  was  the  custom 
in  that  day,  and  it  was  a  good  one. 

A  pleasant  episode  of  this  Conference  session  was  the 
visit  of  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Janes,  Agent  of  the  American 
Bible  Society.  His  address  to  the  Conference  was 
"  moving "  in  its  effect  upon  that  responsive  audience. 
This  note  by  McFerrin  will  not  be  without  interest  to 
the  readers,  for  whom  it  is  transcribed:  "  Probably  he 
[Janes]  laid  the  foundation  of  his  election  to  the  office 
of  Bishop  in  this  visit  to  the  Tennessee  Conference. 
My  impression  is  that  I  was  the  first  person  who  ever 
suggested  his  name  for  the  responsible  position  that  he 
so  long  filled  with  credit  to  himself  and  with  usefulness 
to  the  Church.  He  was  elected  Bishop  in  1S44,  and 
died  in  1S76."  McFerrin  might  have  told  more  in  this 
connection  had  not  modesty  or  prudence  forbidden. 
Bishop  Janes  owed  his  election  largely  to  the  votes  of 


UNDER  FULL  HE  AD  WAT.  131 

the  Southern  delegates  to  that  stormy  General  Confer- 
ence of  1844,  that  dated  the  stormiest  era  in  the  history 
of  American  Methodism ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  ardent  McFerrin  did  more  than  any  other  man 
to  place  the  miter  upon  the  head  of  that  compact,  lucid, 
spiritual  man  who  for  thirty -two  years  honored  the 
episcopal  office  and  adorned  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 
There  was  always  a  warm  regard  for  Bishop  Janes 
among  Southern  Methodists,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  his  heart  was  turned  toward  them  in  fraternal 
yearnings. 

An  incident  of  this  Conference  session,  as  related  by 
McFerrin,  will  illustrate  both  the  temper  of  those  bel- 
licose times  and  a  vital  truth  of  the  gospel — the  truth 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  efficient  agent  in  the  convic- 
tion and  conversion  of  sinners: 

"About  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  this  Conference 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  discussion  involving  spiritual 
regeneration,  justification  by  faith,  and  the  efficacy  of 
water  baptism.  The  followers  of  Alexander  Campbell 
were  very  bold  in  asserting  that  there  was  no  remission 
of  sins  without  immersion  in  water.  They  denied, 
many  of  them  at  least,  that  the  Spirit  directly  wrought 
upon  the  heart  of  penitent  sinners.  In  a  word,  they 
denied  spiritual  Christianity  as  we  in  the  evangelical 
Churches  understood  it. 

"  On  Sunday  night  of  the  Conference  we  had  a  won- 
derful demonstration  of  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith.  I  preached  in  the  'Union  Church,'  as  it  was 
called,  to  a  large  congregation,  while  Dr.  A.  L.  P. 
Green  preached  at  the  Methodist  Church.  In  my  con- 
gregation there  was  a  young  man,  about  twenty-five 
years   of    age,  who   was    a    deaf-mute.     He   was    the 


132  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

son  of  a  Brother  West,  an  aged  Methodist  of  good 
standing  in  the  Church  and  in  the  country  generally. 
He  had  sent  his  son  to  a  school  for  the  education  of  his 
class  of  unfortunate  persons;  and  young  West,  being 
very  sprightly  and  studious,  had  made  rapid  improve- 
ment. He  was  a  handsome  young  man,  and  gave  indi- 
cations of  an  excellent  mind.  Moreover,  he  had  been 
".rained  by  pious  parents,  who  taught  all  their  children 
to  fear  God  and  work  righteousness. 

"  I  preached  on  the  text,  '  What  shall  I  do  to  be 
saved?'  The  audience  was  attentive,  the  preacher  was 
in  the  spirit  of  his  Master,  and  a  peculiar  unction  at- 
tended the  word  preached.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon 
an  invitation  was  given  for  penitents  to  present  them- 
selves at  the  place  of  prayer.  Young  West  was  the 
first,  or  among  the  first,  to  rush  forward  and  fall  on  his 
knees.  He  seemed  much  engaged,  and  soon,  after  a 
most  fervent  prayer  offered  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  Sale, 
he  was  powerfully  converted.  He  rose  to  his  feet,  his 
face  radiant,  his  gestures  giving  evidence  of  great  joy. 
He  looked  toward  heaven,  pointed  upward,  clasped  his 
hands,  and  embraced  his  friends.  After  a  few  moments 
of  rejoicing,  he  seized  his  hat,  and  with  swift  steps 
moved  toward  the  Methodist  Church,  where  his  father 
and  mother  were  worshiping.  He  entered  the  door,  and 
pressed  through  the  crowd  till  he  reached  his  mother, 
when  he  embraced  her,  and  made  her  understand  in  a 
moment  that  he  had  found  peace  in  believing.  The 
effect  was  overwhelming.  In  the  Union  Church  there 
seemed  to  be  a  power  that  shook  the  whole  assembly, 
and  the  congregation  in  the  Methodist  Church  felt  the 
same  divine  influence,  while  the  many  friends  of  young 
West  rejoiced  with  him  in  his  happy  espousal  to  Christ. 


UNDER  FULL  HEADWAY.  133 

"  This  occurrence  produced  a  profound  impression  on 
skeptics  and  those  who  denied  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  the  soul's  conversion  to  Christ.  Sinners  won- 
dered, and  were  afraid.  A  good  work  of  grace  had 
commenced  in  the  congregation  at  the  Methodist  Church, 
and  this  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  revival.  '  Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved,'  was 
the  theme  of  the  preacher,  and  God  verified  his  word  in 
the  conversion  of  this  young  man,  who  could  not  hear 
nor  speak,  but  who  could  believe  and  feel  the  power  of 
grace  to  save." 

God  is  not  limited  in  the  exercise  of  his  saving  power 
by  any  thing  save  a  resisting  human  will.  A  look,  a 
gesture,  a  picture  may  be  a  channel  of  grace  and  salva- 
tion to  a  soul  to  whom  the  ordinary  channels  of  gracious 
communication  are  closed.  Blessed  be  the  name  of  God 
our  Father  who  loves  all  his  children,  and  who  pro- 
vides compensations  in  this  life  for  his  weak  and  afflicted 
ones  who  will  in  the  life  to  come  enter  upon  the  clearer 
light  and  larger  life  that  will  leave  no  painful  mystery 
unrevealed  and  no  longing  unsatisfied! 

Soon  after  the  session  of  his  own  Conference,  Mc- 
Ferrin  swung  out  on  a  tour  of  Conference  visitation. 
He  went  on  horseback,  still  preaching  as  he  went,  and 
leaving  a  stir  behind  him.  The  first  Conference  he  at- 
tended was  the  Memphis,  which  convened  at  Holly 
Springs,  Mississippi,  November  2,  1842.  The  journey 
took  five  days  and  a  half.  Bishop  Andrew  "was  on 
hand,"  says  McFerrin,  and  he  felt  that  he  had  in  him  a 
wise  and  influential  friend.  This  was  the  third  session 
of  the  new  Conference,  and  the  year  had  been  very 
successful.  The  increase  in  Church-members  had  been 
large — a  considerable  portion  of  it  by  immigration  to 


134  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN 


that  new  and  fertile  region.  West  Tennessee  and 
North  Mississippi  were  inviting  sections  of  the  South- 

west the  climate  being  mild,  the  soil  productive,  the 

people  industrious,  and  their  condition  prosperous.  In 
many  places  there  had  been  great  revivals,  such  as  were 
peculiar  to  that  time,  and  thousands  of  souls  had  been 
converted  and  brought  into  the  Methodist  Church. 

The  Conference  at  Holly  Springs  made  a  delightful 
impression  on  McFerrin — from  which  it  may  be  inferred 
that  he  had  "liberty"  in  preaching  and  plenty  of  it  to 
do,  and  that  the  brethren  were  not  deaf  or  unresponsive 
to  his  appeals  for  the  Christian  Advocate.  He  speaks 
warmly  of  the  hospitality  of  the  Holly  vSprings  people— 
a  virtue  characteristic  of  our  people  and  of  those  times, 
and  which  is  not  likely  to  become  extinct  as  long  as  they 
read  the  New  Testament  and  enjoy  genuine  religion. 
The  missionary  anniversary  was  the  most  interesting 
feature  of  the  session,  and  especially  so  to  McFerrin,  as 
it  devolved  on  him  to  take  the  place  of  Bishop  Andrew 
on  the  platform.  The  Bishop,  then  in  his  prime,  was 
immensely  popular,  and  no  member  of  the  body  was 
willing  to  take  his  place  when  it  was  known  that  he  was 
too  much  indisposed  physically  to  fill  his  engagement. 
A  young  Tennessee  preacher — Philip  P.  Neely — con- 
sented to  make  the  opening  speech,  the  first  of  the  kind 
ever  delivered  by  that  silver-tongued  pulpit  orator, 
whose  eloquence  in  after  years  charmed  the  ears  of  de- 
lighted thousands  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  South- 
west. Of  his  effort  it  is  said,  "  He  made  a  handsome 
speech ; "  and  it  may  be  safely  concluded  that  whatever 
may  have  been  lacking  in  breadth  or  depth  in  so  young 
a  speaker  was  largely  compensated  by  the  grace  and 
tact  that  never  failed  him.     McFerrin  followed.     The 


UNDER  FULL  HEADWAY.  135 

traditions  of  that  speech  long  remained.  He  secured 
a  larger  collection  than  had  ever  before  been  made  in 
the  South-west.  On  this  occasion  was  introduced  the 
idea  of  contributing  bales  of  cotton  to  the  cause  of  Mis- 
sions. Stirred  by  McFerrin's  appeals,  Mr.  Willis  Som- 
erville,  a  spirited  and  high-toned  Christian  gentleman, 
arose  and  proposed  to  give  a  bale  of  cotton,  to  be  sent 
to  his  commission  merchant  at  Memphis,  marked  "Mis- 
sionary." Others  followed,  and  twenty-one  bales  were 
contributed  in  a  short  time.  Who  has  known  a  man 
who  when  he  struck  a  lead  like  this  could  follow  it  up 
with  more  success  than  McFerrin? 

On  his  return  from  Holly  Springs  he  visited  his  wid- 
owed mother,  and  then  met  at  Memphis  Bishop  An- 
drew and  the  Rev.  L.  Swormstedt,  Book  Agent,  from 
Cincinnati.  Shipping  their  horses  to  Vicksburg,  Mis- 
sissippi, he  and  the  Bishop  took  boat  for  Helena,  the 
seat  of  the  Arkansas  Conference.  Bishop  Roberts  ar- 
rived on  Friday,  "  having  been  delayed  by  sickness  and 
slow  boats."  This  was  the  last  Conference  that  vener- 
able man  ever  held.  We  have  already  seen  how  great 
was  the  veneration  and  affection  entertained  for  him  by 
McFerrin.  In  the  same  spirit  is  this  note  made  by  him 
in  this  connection: 

"He  [Bishop  Roberts]  came  in  the  spirit  of  a  true 
Bishop  and  as  a  beloved  and  loving  patriarch.  This 
was  the  last  Conference  he  ever  held.  A  more  devoted, 
sweet-spirited,  and  sanctified  Christian  man  and  minis- 
ter I  never  saw.  I  roomed  with  him  and  Bishop  An- 
drew, and  had  the  pleasure  of  waiting  upon  the  vener- 
able man.  The  impression  he  made  on  my  mind  and 
heart  has  never  been  erased.  I  kept  his  minutes,  made 
out  his  returns,  and  read  out   the  appointments  of  the 


136  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

preachers.  The  venerable  man  was  full  of  love,  cheer- 
ful and  happy,  and  preached  on  the  Sabbath  at  the  ear- 
nest request  of  the  brethren.  The  sermon  was  brief 
and  simple  and  full  of  pathos.  His  subject  was,  '  The 
Christian  Race.'  His  own  race  was  run;  at  that  Con- 
ference he  closed  his  official  duties  as  a  Bishop.  He  had 
set  out  for  Texas,  but  Bishop  Andrew  and  others  en- 
tered their  protest  and  persuaded  him  to  return  home, 
where  a  few  months  afterward  he  closed  a  long  and 
useful  life. 

"  Bishop  Roberts  was  a  glorious  preacher  in  his  palmy 
days.  He  was  simple  and  natural  in  his  style  and  man- 
ner of  delivery,  and  full  of  power  and  unction." 

After  this  tribute  to  this  simply  grand  and  saintly  man, 
McFerrin  adds  this  bit  of  personal  history:  "  Up  to 
the  time  of  this  writing  [1875]  I  have  witnessed  the  be- 
ginning and  the  closing  labors  of  several  of  our  Bish- 
ops. I  was  with  Bishops  Andrew,  Paine,  Pierce,  and 
Keener  at  the  first  Conferences  over  which  each  pre- 
sided. I  was  present  at  the  last  Annual  Conferences 
which  each  of  the  following  Bishops  attended — viz., 
Bishops  McKendree,  Roberts,  Soule,  and  Andrew.  All 
good  men;  all  died  in  Christ." 


BELLIGERENT  AND  MOVING. 


FROM  the  Arkansas  Conference,  in  company  with 
Bishop  Andrew  and  the  Rev.  L.  Swormstedt,  Mc- 
Ferrin  took  a  steam-boat  for  Vicksburg  en  route  fot 
Jackson,  the  seat  of  the  Mississippi  Conference.  On 
board  the  boat  they  met  a  Mormon  preacher,  with  whom 
they  had  much  conversation.  The  impression  made  on 
McFerrin's  mind  was  that  they  were  a  fanatical  and  de- 
luded people  with  corrupt  and  designing  leaders.  Their 
subsequent  history  has  vindicated  this  judgment.  Their 
cohesion  under  extraordinary  pressure  demonstrates  the 
cunning;  of  the  Mormon  chiefs  and  the  zeal  of  the 
masses.  Their  peculiar  industrial  system  has  been  the 
conservative  feature  of  Mormonism.  Every  man  among 
them  must  be  a  producer;  idleness  and  vagabondage  are 
excluded.  Thus  the  people  are  thrifty,  and  furnish  a 
striking  illustration  of  this  maxim  in  state-craft:  a  peo- 
ple who  are  provided  with  plenty  and  possessed  of 
physical  comfort  will  bear  much  misgovernment.  Com- 
fort is  dearer  than  freedom  to  the  average  man  save 
when  lifted  to  a  higher  plane  under  the  inspiration  of  a 
great  idea  that  wakes  the  slumbering  souls  of  the  mill- 
ions. 

At  Vicksburg  the  travelers  found  a  hearty  welcome 
at  the  home  of  the  Rev.  John  Lane,  then  a  presiding 
elder  of  the  Mississippi  Conference — "a  man  of  wealth, 
deep  piety,  and  great  simplicity  of  manners,"  says  Mc- 
Ferrin,  in  a  sentence  which  paints  a  picture  that  charms 

(137) 


138  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

us.  The  Rev.  Prestort  Cooper  was  carrying  on  a  re- 
vival in  the  city,  and  the  three  remained  a  short  time 
and  took  part  in  the  work.  The  forcefulness  and  ardor 
of  the  Tennessee  editor  no  doubt  gave  impetus  to  the 
revival.  He  was  a  revivalist  in  virtue  of  the  facts  that 
he  was  converted  in  a  revival,  had  since  lived  in  the 
midst  of  revivals,  was  a  believer  in  revivals,  and  be- 
longed to  a  revival  Church  which  was  born  in  a  revival, 
and  read  the  New  Testament  as  a  revival  record  from 
the  Pentecost  to  the  closing  invitation  from  the  Spirit 
and  the  Bride  in  the  Apocalypse. 

The  Mississippi  Conference  opened  at  Jackson  No- 
vember 30,  1S42,  Bishop  Andrew  in  the  chair.  On 
Sunday  the  Bishop  preached  in  the  State-house  to  a  very 
large  and  intelligent  audience.  Jackson  at  this  time  was 
rapidly  growing,  and  was  celebrated  for  its  men  of  tal- 
ent and  its  women  of  elegance  and  fashion.  At  the 
missionary  meeting  on  Monday  night  Bishop  Andrew, 
Dr.  William  Winans,  and  McFerrin  were  the  speakers 
— a  powerful  trio  for  the  platform.  The  collection,  in 
money  and  cotton-bales,  exceeded  that  taken  at  Holly 
Springs;  and,  under  the  impulse  of  the  occasion,  the 
brethren  met  two  nights  afterward  and  paid  off  an  old 
Church  debt  of  large  amount.  "  So  true  it  is,"  said 
McFerrin,  "  that  the  more  persons  give  to  the  cause  of 
God  the  more  they  are  willing  to  give."  And  it  may 
be  added,  the  more  they  give  the  more  they  will  be  able 
to  give. 

The  good  Bishop  and  McFerrin  next  started  to  Mont- 
gomery, the  seat  of  the  Alabama  Conference — the  for- 
mer in  his  one-horse  buggy  and  the  latter  on  horseback. 
That  was  a  preaching  journey.  Accompanied  by  sev- 
eral of  the  preachers,  they  preached  in  Canton,  Sharon, 


BELLIGERENT  AND  MO  VI NG.  139 

Louisville,  Starkville,  and  Columbus,  Mississippi.  At 
Columbus  they  spent  the  Sabbath  and  remained  until 
Tuesday.  The  Bishop  preached  to  a  large  congrega- 
tion on  Sunday.  On  Sunday  and  Monday  nights  Mc- 
Fcrrin  preached  two  sermons  by  request — one  on  "  The 
Deity,  Personality,  and  Offices  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and 
the  other  on  "Justification  by  Faith."  The  immediate 
cause  of  the  request,  he  tells  us,  was  the  fact  that  «  a 
Campbellite  preacher  from  Tennessee  had  been  in  Co- 
lumbus a  short  time  previous,  and  made  war  upon  the 
evangelical  views  of  experimental  religion  and  salvation 
by  faith."  No  great  persuasion  was  required  to  induce 
McFerrin  to  preach  those  sermons.  The  man  who  car- 
ries a  loaded  pistol  is  likely  to  have  occasion  to  shoot. 
McFerrin  went  loaded  in  those  days  of  fierce  doctrinal 
conflict.  The  wrath  of  the  "Disciples"  was  stirred  by 
the  sermons,  and  he  was  attacked  in  a  lively  manner  by 
a  writer  in  the  secular  papers  of  Columbus.  He  replied 
in  the  South-western  Christian  Advocate. 

Resuming  their  journey,  the  Bishop  and  McFerrin 
took  in  their  way  Eutaw,  Greensboro,  Marion,  and  Val- 
ley Creek  (afterward  called  Summerfield).  The  Sab- 
bath was  spent  at  Marion,  where  the  Bishop  preached 
in  the  morning  and  McFerrin  at  night.  We  smile  as 
we  read  McFerrin's  note  of  his  sermon  on  that  occa- 
sion. He  discharged  another  chamber  of  his  polemic 
pistol,  which  was  loaded  and  ready.  "A  serious  attack 
had  been  made  on  the  Methodists  a  short  time  previous 
by  a  Calvinistic  Presbyterian.  I  was  privately  request- 
ed to  give  the  matter  a  little  notice;  consequently  at 
night  I  preached  on  '  The  Doctrine  of  Election.'  I  took 
with  me  into  the  pulpit  the  Westminster  Confession  of 
Faith,  and  in  the  course  of  my  sermon  I  read  from  the 


140  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Confession  and  then  from  the  Bible,  and  then  noted  the 
conflict  between  them.  My  congregation  became  very 
much  excited.  The  Methodists  seemed  to  be  delighted, 
the  Calvinists  very  much  surprised,  and  some  of  them 
greatly  offended."  It  is  no  wonder  that  they  were  of- 
fended. That  is  an  exasperating  way  of  conducting 
such  a  discussion.  If  unfairly  done,  it  naturally  irritates 
the  other  side;  if  fairly  done,  it  makes  them  feel  very 
uncomfortable.  We  are  sure  McFerrin  tried  to  be  fair. 
"The  result,"  he  says,  "was  good.  Perhaps  few  ser- 
mons that  I  ever  delivered  made  more  stir  or  were  longer 
remembered.  The  Methodists  had  been  rather  weak  in 
Marion,  and  had  been  the  subjects  of  persecution  and 
proscription." 

Leaving  the  Marion  community  in  a  ferment,  and  the 
Methodists  exultant,  the  two  resumed  their  journey, 
having  with  them  the  Rev.  A.  P.  Harris,  a  young 
preacher  of  the  Alabama  Conference,  described  as  "a 
good  man  and  a  great  singer."  He  entertained  his  com- 
panions in  travel  with  hymns  and  camp-meeting  songs, 
making  the  forests  vocal  with  praise  to  God.  A  little 
more  than  one  year  from  this  time  he  went  up  to  join 
the  songs  of  the  glorified. 

They  reached  Montgomery  December  27,  and  that 
night  McFerrin  attended  a  meeting  of  a  juvenile  mis- 
sionary society.  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  and  Dr.  Jefferson 
Hamilton  made  addresses.  McFerrin  "  added  some  re- 
marks." If  this  was  the  first  time  those  grand  apostolic 
men  heard  him  on  the  platform,  they  undoubtedly  had  a 
surprise.  After  the  ponderous  Biblical  argumentation 
of  Pierce  and  the  conscience-searching  of  Hamilton,  the 
audacious  sallies,  the  flashing  wit,  and  the  simple  pathos 
of  the  Tennessean   were  hugely  enjoyed   by  the  audi- 


BELLIGERENT  AND  MO  VING.  141 

ence.  That  McFerrin  enjoyed  it  is  indicated  by  his 
note  that  "  the  Society  gave  a  handsome  entertainment  " 

The  Alabama  Conference  convened  December  28, 
1842.  Bishop  Andrew  was  in  his  place,  and  the  Revs. 
Seymour  B.  Sawyer  and  Thomas  W.  Dorman  were 
elected  Secretaries.  Within  two  years  Mr.  Sawyer  died. 
The  year  previous  to  his  death  he  visited  Nashville  with 
his  sick  wife,  in  quest  of  health.  McFerrin  found  them 
at  a  hotel,  took  them  to  his  house,  where  Mrs.  Sawyer 
in  a  few  days  died  in  full  hope  of  a  glorious  immortal- 
ity. "  I  am  going  to  a  world  where  there  is  no  sin,'' 
was  the  solemn  yet  rapturous  thought  that  was  last  on 
her  dying  lips. 

The  Alabama  Conference  continued  more  than  a 
week;  but  on  Monday  morning,  in  company  with  a 
young  preacher — George  McClintock — McFerrin  left 
Montgomery  for  Nashville.  The  horseback  journey 
took  ten  days.  A  heavy  snow-storm  met  him  on  the 
way,  but  he  pressed  forward,  and  at  the  end  of  ten  days 
reached  Nashville.  He  had  traveled  more  than  three 
thousand  miles,  mostly  on  horseback,  and  had  been  ab- 
sent from  home  two  months  and  a  half.  He  had  made 
"  much  interest  for  his  paper,"  which  by  this  time  was 
getting  out  of  debt,  and  had  the  promise  of  a  large  cir- 
culation. The  country  through  which  he  had  traveled 
was  new  to  him ;  many  new  acquaintances  were  made 
by  him  and  old  friendships  renewed.  Reviewing  this 
journey,  he  uses  these  words  concerning  his  traveling 
companion :  "  Bishop  Andrew,  with  whom  I  made  most 
of  the  journey,  I  found  to  be  a  most  delightful  fellow- 
traveler.  He  was  genial,  easily  satisfied,  and  never 
complained  of  coarse  fare.  He  was  always  ready  to 
preach  when    circumstances  justified    him  in  so  doing. 


142  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

His  health  was  uniformly  good,  and  he  seldom  missed 
an  opportunity  of  doing  good."  That  is  a  character- 
istic touch  in  which  he  says  that  the  good  Bishop 
"never  complained  of  coarse  fare."  Methodist  Bishops 
usually  get  the  best  that  there  is  in  these  days,  when 
Methodists  are  rich  and  numerous;  but  in  that  earlier 
time  they  had,  like  others,  to  endure  hardness  as  good 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  There  are  other  points  in  the 
foregoing  description  worthy  of  the  special  attention  of 
preachers.     Pause  and  re-read. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  during  this  long  absence 
the  South-western  Christian  Advocate  was  a  self -run- 
ning sheet.  The  Rev.  C.  D.  Elliott,  then  at  the  head 
of  the  far-famed  Nashville  Female  Academy,  supervised 
its  weekly  issues  while  the  editor  on  horseback  kept  up  a 
regular  correspondence.  In  variety  the  paper  could  not 
compare  with  the  weekly  religious  newspaper  of  to-day. 
Revival  news,  doctrinal  and  controversial  essays,  edito 
rials  not  numerous  but  voluminous,  original  "  poetry  " 
generally  very  religious  in  tone  and  very  greatly  lacking 
in  every  other  desirable  element  of  verse,  and  the  inev- 
itable and  sacred  obituary  department,  made  up  its  table 
of  contents.  From  that  day  to  this  two  things  have 
never  failed  in  the  record  of  Methodism — the  spiritual 
birth  of  new  souls  into  the  kingdom  of  grace  and  the  hap- 
py translation  of  the  holy  dead  to  the  kingdom  of  glo- 
ry. McFerrin  tells  us  that  on  reaching  home  he  found 
much  to  do  after  so  long  an  absence,  but  that  he  "  went 
to  work  with  a  good  will,"  and  he  had  good  health  and 
a  good  constitution  to  bear  him  up  in  his  labors.  He 
adds  this  significant  note:  "Occasionally  I  had  to  con- 
trovert false  doctrines  and  to  defend  Methodism.  Those 
were  days  of  much  discussion  and  a  good  deal  of  angry 


BELLIGERENT  AND  MOVING.  143 


disputation ;  but  we  held  our  own,  and  Methodism  con- 
tinued to  prosper  in  the  great  South-west."  False  doc- 
trines were  as  a  red  flag  to  him,  and  his  readiness  to 
«  defend  Methodism  "  was  truly  remarkable.  The  ap- 
pearance of  an  assailant  was  the  signal  for  fight.  If 
he  ever  declined  a  challenge  the  fact  is  not  recorded. 
That  a  warrior  so  quick  to  defend  might  sometimes  be 
the  aggressor  is  quite  possible.  Like  many  another 
stout  but  good-natured  fighter,  he  somehow  managed 
to  have  a  contest  on  hand  most  of  the  time.  If  he  ever 
grew  tired  of  it,  his  friends  never  knew  it;  if  he  was 
ever  vanquished,  he  did  not  know  it.  It  may  not  be 
denied  that  there  was  a  real  necessity  that  he  should 
controvert  false  doctrine  and  defend  Methodism.  The 
delusion  called  "Millerism" — one  of  those  sporadic  ex- 
citements concerning  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  that  from  time  to  time  have  run  a  brief 
course — was  raging  like  a  wild  fire  in  many  parts  of  the 
country.  In  some  places  the  followers  of  Miller  aban- 
doned all  secular  business,  went  into  the  fields  or  woods, 
lived  in  tents,  prepared  their  ascension  robes,  and  in  some 
cases  even  went  so  far  as  to  predict  the  very  day  and 
hour  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord.  Other  popular  errors 
lifted  their  heads  here  and  there  and  offered  marks  too 
fair  to  escape  the  blows  of  this  vigilant  watchman  upon 
the  walls.  Methodism,  though  an  aggressive,  growing, 
prosperous  organization,  had  not  yet  conquered  a  peace ; 
but  it  commanded  the  respect  of  opposers  and  excited 
the  wonder  and  admiration  of  friends  and  liberal-minded 
people  of  other  Communions.  And  so  we  say  the  mil- 
itant McFerrin  was  needed,  and  he  must  not  be  unduly 
blamed  because  he  found  that  duty  and  inclination  lay 
in  the  same  direction.     He  had  the   magnanimity  that 


144  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

could  kindle  with  admiration  at  the  prowess  of  an  an- 
tagonist whose  heavy  blows  had  fallen  on  himself.  This 
trait  was  illustrated  in  later  years  when,  after  a  heated 
but  courteous  combat  with  Dr.  A.  G.  Haygood  before 
the  Book  Committee,  on  a  question  that-  always  stirred 
him  deeply,  he  exclaimed  with  undisguised  admiration: 
"  He  hit  me  hard  to-night.  I  taught  the  fellow  to  fight, 
and  taught  him  so  well  that  he  can  almost  whip  his  teach- 
er!" His  sacred  and  enduring  personal  friendships  with 
men  whom  he  met  in  stern  polemic  strife  showed  that 
there  was  a  knightly  strain  in  his  blood,  and  that  the 
grace  of  God  could  temper  the  wrath  of  the  most  pug- 
nacious of  men.  But  he  never  forgot  what  he  believed 
to  be  a  foul  blow ;  if  he  forgave  it,  it  was  a  watchful 
and  <  discriminating  sort  of  forgiveness  that  guarded 
against  the  repetition  of  the  offense.  He  aimed  to  be 
just;  if  in  any  case  he  failed,  it  was  an  error  not  of  in- 
tention but  of  temperament. 

These  were  wonderful  times  in  Tennessee  Methodism. 
Over  six  thousand  souls  were  added  to  the  Church  dur- 
ing this  year  within  the  bounds  of  the  Conference.  Mc- 
Ferrin,  with  Green,  Paine,  Pitts,  Maddin,  and  other  men 
of  might  and  mark,  led  the  hosts.  But,  Nehemiah-like. 
they  builded  with  a  trowel  in  one  hand  and  a  sword  in 
the  other.  "  We  had  various  conflicts,"  says  McFerrin. 
"  The  Campbellites,  the  Baptists,  the  Episcopalians,  the 
Universalists,  and  others — all  had  to  be  met.  And  the 
Christian  Advocate  at  Nashville  was  the  greatest  of- 
fender of  all,  because  it  was  the  organ  of  Methodism  in 
the  South-west,  and  boldly  defended  the  doctrines  and 
usages  of  the  Church."  They  "  had  to  be  met,"  says 
our  Methodist  warrior,  who  from  his  editorial  watch- 
tower  kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  all  sorts  of  enemies,  and 


BELLIGERENT  AND  MO  VING.  145 

sallied  forth  with  eager  haste  to  meet  them.  To  us  at 
this  distance  from  those  stormy  days  it  looks  like  run- 
ning amuck  when  he  enumerates  Campbellites,  Bap- 
tists, Episcopalians,  Universalists,  and  others.  Who 
were  "the  others?" 
10 


<<k. ■»-** 


TRIPOD,  PULPIT,  AND  PLATFORM. 


THE  Tennessee  Conference  met  at  Gallatin  October 
1 8,  1843.  No  Bishop  being  on  hand,  A.  L.  P. 
Green  was  elected  President,  and  McFerrin  Secretary, 
with  J.  W.  Hanner  as  assistant.  It  was  a  notable  occa- 
sion. A  new  and  beautiful  church  was  dedicated,  the 
sermon  being  preached  by  the  Rev.  Fountain  E.  Pitts, 
the  wonder  of  his  contemporaries.  That  sermon  was  a 
marvelous  one  even  for  him.  Bishop  Soule  arrived  and 
took  the  chair  the  next  morning.  His  visit  was  highly 
appreciated  by  the  Tennessee  Methodists,  among  whom, 
by  the  operation  of  a  series  of  events  which  no  human 
sagacity  could  have  foreseen,  he  was  destined  to  spend 
the  last  years  of  his  grand  and  heroic  life,  and  among 
whom  he  finally  found  his  grave.  During  the  past  year 
that  great  preacher,  Thomas  L.  Douglass,  had  died,  and 
the  Conference  mourned  for  him  as  for  a  father.  Rev. 
A.  L.  P.  Green  preached  his  funeral  sermon  amid  the 
tears  of  the  brethren,  of  whom  some  were  his  spiritual 
children,  and  all  of  whom  had  felt  the  impress  of  his 
lofty  character  and  the  inspiration  of  his  evangelical 
eloquence.  Another  preacher — the  Rev.  Thomas  L. 
Young,  described  as  "  a  burning  and  shining  light  in  the 
Church  of  God  " — had  died  during  the  year,  and  Dr. 
Thomas  Maddin  preached  his  memorial  sermon  before 
the  Conference. 

At    this   session    of    the    Conference    delegates    were 
elected  to  the   ever-memorable  General   Conference  to 
(146) 


TRIPOD,  PULPIT,  AND  PLATFORM.  147 

be  held  in  New  York  in  May,  1844.  Robert  Paine,  J. 
B.  McFerrin,  A.  L.  P.  Green,  and  Thomas  Maddin  were 
chosen,  with  F.  E.  Pitts  and  J.  W.  Hanner  as  alternates. 
This  was  a  strong  delegation,  and  their  influence  was 
felt  in  the  tremendous  struggles  of  that  body,  whose 
action  affected  so  powerfully  the  future  history  of  Amer- 
ican Methodism  and  the  destinies  of  the  nation. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  William  Capers,  then  one  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Secretaries,  was  present  at  this  Conference. 
McFerrin  says  the  body  was  blessed  with  his  presence 
and  labors,  and  the  words  were  doubtless  well  chosen. 
When  under  the  full  afflatus  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
pulpit,  Dr.  CajDers  combined  the  venerableness  of  an 
apostle  with  the  glow  of  a  seraph.  On  the  missionary 
platform  he  was  convincing  and  persuasive,  producing 
not  the  immediate  effects  of  ordinary  popular  oratory, 
but  leaving  lodged  in  the  minds  of  his  hearers  the  great 
basic  principles  that  underlie  the  work  of  Missions  and 
in  their  hearts  the  fragrance  of  his  saintly  spirit.  No 
two  good  men  could  be  more  unlike  each  other  than  he 
and  McFerrin.  There  was  no  positive  repulsion,  but 
they  never  got  close  together;  their  angles  did  not  fit 
and  interlock,  as  is  sometimes  the  case  with  men  of 
marked  and  diverse  individuality. 

The  interests  of  the  South-western  Christian  Advo- 
cate and  his  own  love  of  motion  and  wholesome  ex- 
citement led  McFerrin  to  make  another  tour  of  Con- 
ferences this  year.  The  reader  will  be  pleased  to  have 
the  notes  of  these  journeyings  in  his  own  words: 

"  The  Conference  over,  and  a  little  business  adjusted, 
I  visited  Paris,  Tennessee,  the  seat  of  the  Memphis  Con- 
ference, Bishop  Soule  presiding.  Dr.  Capers  was  also 
present.     The  session  was  pleasant,  and  the  brethren,  by 


148  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

strong  resolutions  and  material  aid,  sustained  the  Advo- 
cate. This  Conference  convened  on  the  first  day  of  No- 
vember, but  as  I  had  to  visit  the  Mississippi  and  Alabama 
Conferences,  my  stay  was  short.  I  made  the  trip  in  a 
buggy,  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  S.  S.  Yarbrough. 

"On  the  24th  of  November,  1843,  I  left  Nashville 
on  board  the  '  Westwood,'  a  new  steamer,  Capt.  Simon 
Bradford  in  charge.  My  point  of  destination  was  Bayou 
Sara,  Louisiana;  thence  by  rail  to  Woodville,  Missis- 
sippi. The  boat  was  fine  and  the  accommodations  ex- 
cellent, but  the  weather  was  very  unfavorable — rairi, 
fog,  and  high  water  for  the  season,  and  a  boat  heavily 
laden.  Loading  and  unloading  in  rainy  weather  was 
very  disagreeable.  And  the  fog!  No  one  can  fully 
appreciate  a  fog  on  the  Mississippi  River  unless  he  has 
been  in  its  midst.  Our  voyage  was  tedious,  yet  I  man- 
aged to  spend  the  time  pleasantly.  I  read  Dr.  Olin's 
travels,  wrote  letters  for  the  paper,  perused  the  Bible, 
preached  on  board,  and  had  agreeable  company.  At 
Bayou  Sara  I  was  detained  twenty-six  hours  waiting 
for  a  railroad  train  to  convey  me  a  short  distance  to 
Woodville,  Mississippi,  the  seat  of  the  Conference.  It 
was  Saturday  evening  before  I  arrived  at  Woodville. 
The  Conference  had  been  in  session  since  the  Wednes- 
day preceding.  Bishop  Soule  was  presiding.  The  Con- 
ference was  very  pleasant.  Dr.  Capers  and  Dr.  Janes, 
both  of  whom  were  afterward  elected  Bishops,  were 
present — one  as  Missionary  Secretary,  the  other  as  Agent 
of  the  American  Bible  Society.  These  brethren  added 
much  to  the  interest  of  the  Conference  proceedings. 
The  collections  for  the  Bible  cause,  Missions,  education, 
etc.,  were  large  and  liberal.  Woodville  was  in  the  heart 
of  a  fine  cotton-producing  country,  and  the  inhabitants 


TRIPOD,  PULPIT,  AND  PLATFORM.  149 


of  the  town  and  vicinity  were  intelligent  and  generous. 
Among  the  most  princely  Christians  of  the  times  was 
Mr.  Edward  McGehee,  who  resided  near  Woodville.  He 
gave  liberally  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  stimulated  others 
in  their  good  deeds.  The  Conference  still  favored  the 
South-western  Christian  Advocate,  and  treated  the  ed- 
itor with  marked  attention  and  Christian  courtesy. 

"  The  session  closed,  in  company  with  several  of  the 
preachers,  I  left  Woodville  on  Saturday,  on  board  the 
4  Brilliant,'  and  reached  New  Orleans  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing in  time  for  service;  heard  Dr.  Capers  preach,  and 
preached  twice  myself — afternoon  and  evening.  My 
home  at  New  Orleans  was  with  my  old  Nashville  friend, 
H.  R.  W.  Hill. 

"  In  company  with  Dr.  Capers,  I  went  from  New 
Orleans,  across  the  Lake  and  Gulf,  to  Mobile,  Alabama. 
The  voyage  was  rough,  and  most  of  those  on  board  the 
8  Fashion '  were  seasick ;  but  notwithstanding  we  were 
driven  out  to  the  Gulf  I  made  the  voyage  without  any 
inconvenience.  This  to  my  traveling  companion  was  a 
wonder.  He  had  been  across  the  Atlantic,  and  suffered 
in  this  short  Gulf  voyage,  and  supposed  I  would  have 
been  forced  to  pay  tribute  to  Neptune. 

"  Our  visit  to  Mobile  was  exceedingly  pleasant.  Dr. 
Capers  and  I  found  a  comfortable  home  at  the  house  of 
the  Rev.  Jefferson  Hamilton,  one  of  the  stationed  preach- 
ers in  the  city.  Here  too  I  met  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce, 
who  had  charge  of  one  of  the  Mobile  Churches,  and 
Dr.  Jesse  Boring,  the  presiding  elder  of  the  district. 

"  Two  missionary  meetings  were  held  during  the  Sab- 
bath— one  each  for  the  children  and  young  people.  The 
first  was  in  the  afternoon  at  Dr.  Pierce's  Church,  the 
other  at  night  in  Dr.  Hamilton's  Church.     The  speakers. 


150  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

at  the  last  meeting  were  Drs.  Pierce,  Capers,  and  my- 
self. The  occasion  was  one  of  great  interest.  To  speak 
between  two  distinguished  Doctors,  such  as  Pierce  and 
Capers,  was  no  easy  task.  I  made  the  best  effort  I 
could.  Before  I  left  Mobile  I  had  presented  to  me  a 
silver  cup,  with  my  daughter's  name  engraved,  as  a  tes- 
timonial of  regards  of  the  managers. 

"  During  my  absence  the  paper  was  left  in  charge  of 
the  Rev.  P.  P.  Neely,  who  was  stationed  at  McKen- 
dree  Church.  At  the  Conferences  I  attended  strong 
commendatory  resolutions  were  passed." 

From  the  time  of  his  return  from  this  tour  until  the 
middle  of  April  following  he  was  busy  in  closing  up 
the  accounts  of  the  paper,  preparing  his  report  for  the 
General  Conference,  and  in  conducting  the  editorial  de- 
partment. 

It  was  a  time  of  much  anxiety  and  painful  foreboding 
to  prayerful  and  thoughtful  Methodists  in  all  parts  of 
the  country.  As  in  earthquake  countries  a  joeculiar 
electric  influence  in  the  air  forebodes  to  man  and  beast 
the  approach  of  the  dread  convulsion  of  nature,  so,  as 
the  time  set  for  the  General  Conference  drew  near,  the 
Church  seemed  surcharged  with  elements  that  portended 
disturbance  and  disaster.  The  institution  of  domestic 
slavery,  which  the  framers  of  the  Government  had  put 
into  the  Constitution,  and  which  the  fathers  of  the 
Church  had  not  been  able  to  control  by  any  settled  and 
successful  policy,  had  long  caused  local  irritation,  which 
had  now  extended  until  the  whole  body  was  in  a  state 
of  feverish  excitability.  The  agitation,  repressed  at 
Cincinnati  in  1840,  was  a  smothered  fire  that  soon  broke 
out  afresh.  The  Northern  conscience  was  not  allowed 
to  sleep  by  the  Abolitionists  of  all  shades,  from  the  fu- 


TRIPOD.  FULPIT,  AND  PLATFORM.  151 


rious  fanatic  who  was  ready  for  blood-shedding  as  the 
shortest  and  surest  path  to  Negro  emancipation  to  men 
like  Olin  and  Fisk,  who,  though  caught  in  the  swirl  of 
the  agitated  waters,  never  had  any  heart  for  the  fra- 
ternal strife— only  drifting  with  sad  hearts  with  a  cur- 
rent that  was  too  mighty  to  be  resisted  by  human  power 
Nobody  could  expect  McFerrin  to  be  silent  under 
these  conditions.  « Several  articles,"  he  says,  "were 
written  with  reference  to  the  approaching  General  Con- 
ference, and  much  solicitude  was  felt  as  to  the  result  of 
the  deliberations  of  that  body.  I  tried  to  believe,  and 
so  expressed  myself,  that  the  conservative  element  was 
strong  enough  to  counteract  the  purposes  of  those  who 
were  unconditional  and  noted  Abolitionists.  We  of  the 
South  deprecated  the  division  of  the  Church.  Still,  we 
intended  to  contend  for  our  constitutional  and  scriptural 

rights." 

Certainly  he  was  ready  to  contend  for  all  his  rights, 
at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances.  The  "several 
articles"  to  which  he  refers  took  the  moderate  Southern 
view  of  the  question  at  issue,  and  indicated  that  the 
writer  was  going  to  New  York  hoping  for  peace,  but 
ready  to  fight  rather  than  surrender  any  right  or  sub- 
mit to  any  wrong.  Here  was  the  issue:  The  Northern 
conscience  was  in  irreconcilable  antagonism  to  what  the 
South  claimed  to  be  "constitutional  and  scriptural 
rights."  One  fact  should  be  noted  here  that  ought  to 
moderate  the  dogmatism  of  extremists  on  either  side  and 
plead  for  charity  toward  all  the  actors  in  these  stormy 
scenes  of  1844.  The  opinions  of  the  parties  to  this  strife 
might  be  mapped  geographically.  Beginning  in  New 
England,  where  the  anti-slavery  feeling  was  most  in- 
tense, it  shaded  off  as  one  progressed  through  the  Middle 


152  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

States  over  the  mountains  into  the  Valley  of  the  Ohio. 
Leaving  the  Ohio,  the  contrary  sentiment  grew  in  in- 
tensity in  a  corresponding  ratio,  attaining  its  maximum 
in  the  extreme  South-west.  Whether  we  their  success- 
ors will  be  fairer  and  broader  than  our  fathers  depends 
upon  our  ability  to  comprehend  and  apply  the  lessons  of 
history.  Great  and  good  men  as  they  were,  they  were 
but  human,  and  they  were  controlled  by  their  environ- 
ment. There  were  exceptions  to  the  statement  that 
opinions  concerning  the  questions  under  debate  were 
determined  by  environment;  and  conspicuous  among 
these  broad-minded  and  philosophical  men  was  Joshua 
Soule,  the  simple  grandeur  of  whose  character  will  stand 
out  in  bolder  and  still  bolder  relief  when  posterity 
shall  look  at  him  fully  cleared  of  the  mists  of  con- 
temporaneous passion  and  misjudgment. 


^gy 

'^#3® 


THE  METHODIST  CATACLYSM. 


THE  fateful  General  Conference  of  1844  drew  near. 
While  the  peach-trees  were  blooming  and  the  oak- 
buds  swelling,  in  the  spring  of  that  year,  the  delegates 
from  all  parts  of  the  United  States  made  their  way  to 
New  York,  the  seat  of  the  General  Conference.  Mc- 
Ferrin  left  Nashville  April  11,  in  company  with  A.  L. 
P.  Green,  on  board  the  "Utica,"  Capt.  Peppard,  bound 
for  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania.  Their  boat  was  small  but 
comfortable,  the  fare  good,  and  the  officers  polite.  The 
water  being  low  in  the  Upper  Ohio,  and  the  craft  not 
swift,  the  voyage  to  Pittsburgh  took  eleven  days.  Short 
pauses  were  made  at  Louisville  and  Cincinnati.  No  two 
more  companionable  men  ever  met  on  a  journey  by  land 
or  water.  If  all  they  said  to  each  other  and  to  their 
fellow-passengers  during  those  eleven  days  and  nights 
could  be  recalled,  what  a  medley  of  theology,  ecclesi- 
astical politics,  philosophy,  wit,  humor,  and  Christian 
experience  would  sparkle  on  this  page !  Green,  in  anec- 
dote, had  a  perennial  freshness  that  never  cloyed,  a 
quaint  humor  that  gave  his  listeners  quiet  but  pleasant 
surprises,  and  a  philosophical  turn  of  mind  that  pene- 
trated to  the  very  heart  of  many  a  puzzling  problem. 
McFerrin's  flow  of  animal  spirits  was  well-nigh  inex- 
haustible; his  originality  in  thought  and  expression 
seemed  doubly  original  when  re-enforced  by  his  unique 
manner  of  utterance,  and  the  persons  he  met  were  pro- 
voked to  talk  or  charmed  to  listen.     That  trip  down  the 

(153) 


154  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Cumberland  and  up  the  Ohio,  though  long,  was  not  te- 
dious to  these  two  much-speaking  delegates  from  Ten- 
nessee. At  Pittsburgh  they  met  a  number  of  delegates 
on  their  way  to  New  York.  Sunday  was  sj:>ent  in  that 
smoky  metropolis.  The  Rev.  Messrs.  Holmes  and 
Kinney,  Methodist  pastors  in  the  place,  were  courteous 
and  kind,  and  made  their  stay  pleasant. 

The  General  Conference  opened  its  session  in  the 
Green  Street  Church,  New  York,  May  i,  1844,  and 
was  the  ninth  delegated  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  McFerrin  was  assigned 
a  home  at  Mr.  Samuel  Harper's  during  the  session,  with 
the  Rev.  Tobias  Spicer,  of  the  Troy  Conference,  as 
his  room-mate — of  whom  he  speaks  kindly  as  "  a  man 
of  age  and  respectable  talents,  and  withal  very  amiable 
and  pious."  Mr.  Harper  was  a  retired  merchant,  a  man 
of  means  and  large  hospitality.  His  wife  was  a  charm- 
ing Christian  lady.  They  both  did  all  they  could  to 
make  their  Southern  visitor  comfortable,  and  won  his 
lasting,  grateful  affection.  The  trouble  that  darkened 
the  ecclesiastical  sky  cast  no  shadow  upon  the  social 
sweetness  of  this  Christian  home,  though  it  is  most 
probable  that  his  Brother  Spicer  and  his  host  and  hostess 
were  arrayed  against  the  doughty  editor  from  Tennessee. 

Bishop  Joshua  Soule  opened  the  Conference — with 
what  conflicting  hopes  and  fears  it  is  not  difficult  to  con- 
jecture when  we  know  how  deeply  he  loved  the  whole 
Church,  and  that  no  man  in  all  that  august  body  under- 
stood more  fully  than  himself  the  gravity  of  the  occa- 
sion, or  with  the  prescience  of  true  ecclesiastical  genius 
could  forecast  more  fully  the  course  of  the  cyclone  that 
might  be  let  loose  by  its  action. 

As  a  member  of  the  body  and  a  participant  in  its  pre* 


THE  METHODIST  CATACLYSM.  155 


ceedings,  McFerrin's  impressions  and  opinions  have  a 
historical  value  that  will  justify  the  use  of  his  own  lan- 
p-uao-e  in  relation  to  it— a  value  still  more  enhanced  by 
the  fact  that  the  words  were  written  thirty-one  years 
afterward  and  when  his  heart  was  warm  with  the  feel- 
ing of  fraternity  that  put  him  in  the  very  forefront  of 
the  men  who  were  then  leading  in  the  work  of  recon- 
ciliation among  the  two  great  branches  of  American 
Methodism: 

"  The  body  was  large,  consisting  of  clerical  delegates 
from  every  Conference  in  the  United  States.  Five 
Bishops  were  present— namely,  Soule,  Hedding,  An- 
drew, Waugh,  and  Morris. 

"  In  the  organization  of  the  Conference  I  was  elected 
chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Itinerancy.  This  was 
one  of  the  standing  committees,  and  was  considered  one 
of  great  importance.  The  committee  consisted  of  thirty- 
three  members.  Of  the  Southern  delegates  there  were 
on  this  committee  William  Patton,  Edward  Stevenson, 
E.  F.  Sevier,  W.  M.  Wightman,  William  A.  Smith, 
and  others.  The  editors  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  supervise  the  publication  of  the  reports  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Conference,  including  the  speeches  de- 
livered by  the  various  members. 

"  I  was  one  of  this  Committee  of  Publication,  which 
added  much  to  my  other  labors;  yet  I  was  in  fine  health, 
and  could  endure  much  work. 

"  It  was  somewdiat  remarkable  that  so  many  of  the 
standing  committees  were  headed  by  Southern  men  as 
chairmen.  For  instance,  on  Episcopacy,  Robert  Paine; 
on  the  Book  Concern,  William  Winans;  on  Education, 
H.  B.  Bascom;  on  the  Bible  Cause,  Lovick  Pierce;  and 
on  Itinerancy,  J.  B.  McFerrin. 


156  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

"This  session  of  the  General  Conference  (  1S44)  was 
the  most  memorable  in  the  annals  of  American  Meth- 
odism. The  question  of  slavery  had  to  some  extent 
agitated  the  Church  from  its  organization,  threatening 
at  times  the  peace,  harmony,  and  even  unity  of  Meth- 
odism. But  the  action  of  the  General  Conferences  of 
1S36  and  1840,  it  was  supposed,  had  put  a  quietus  upon 
the  subject,  and  it  was  hoped  that  in  the  future  the  dif- 
ferent portions  of  the  Church  would  have  rest.  The 
Southern  Conferences  had  been  in  a  measure  proscribed; 
but  they  seemed  to  submit,  especially  as  the  Conferences 
of  1S36  and  1S40  had  rebuked  the  Abolitionists,  and 
had  decided  that  slave-holding  was  no  legal  barrier  to 
any  office  in  the  Methodist  ministry  in  States  not  per- 
mitting emancipation.  The  whole  Church  in  the  South 
seemed  to  enjoy  peace  after  the  General  Conference  of 
1S40  had  adjourned.  Not  so  in  New  England.  The 
spirit  of  abolition  raged  more  furiously  than  ever;  yet 
the  South  looked  to  the  Bishops  and  to  the  conservative 
Conferences  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  for  pro- 
tection, and  felt  secure  till  a  short  time  before  the  meet- 
ing of  this  General  Conference  in  1S44. 

"Soon  after  the  Conference  had  convened  it  was 
rumored  that  Francis  A.  Harding,  of  the  Baltimore 
Conference,  had  appealed  from  the  decision  of  his  Con- 
ference, by  which  he  had  been  suspended  from  the  func- 
tions of  the  ministry  for  holding  slaves  which  he  had 
acquired  by  marriage.  And  it  was  further  reported 
that  Bishop  Andrew,  who  resided  in  Georgia,  had  by 
inheritance  and  marriage  become  a  slave-holder.  These 
two  cases  occupied  a  large  portion  of  the  session,  and 
resulted  in  the  separation  of  the  Church  into  two  dis- 


THE  METHODIST  CATACLYSM.  157 

"  The  history  of  this  event  is  written,  and  is  familiar 
to  most  of  American  Methodists.  I  was  with  the  South, 
of  course,  believing  that  the  General  Conference  by  the 
votes  of  the  majority  violated  the  provisions  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Church  and  inflicted  a  great  wrong  on 
Harding,  Bishop  Andrew,  and  the  whole  Church  in  the 
slave  States. 

"To  the  delegates  from  the  Southern  Conferences  the 
blow  was  sad  and  serious.  They  met  soon  after  the  res- 
olutions de-posing  Bishop  Andrew  had  been  adopted  by 
the  majority,  and  I  never  witnessed  such  a  meeting.  For 
a  season  silence  prevailed  in  the  whole  assembly,  and 
this  was  succeeded  by  sobs  and  tears;  every  member 
present  was  distressed  beyond  measure.  To  separate 
from  the  Northern  members,  to  divide  the  Church  we 
loved,  and  to  make  a  breach  in  the  ranks  of  our  glorious 
Methodism,  was  too  much  to  be  contemplated  without 
feelings  of  the  deepest  grief.  But  what  else  could  be 
done?  What  other  method  could  be  adopted?  We 
could  not  return  to  our  people  with  this  illegal  and  pro- 
scriptive  action  upon  us.  To  submit  was  in  effect  to 
abandon  the  Church  in  the  South  and  to  turn  away  from 
God's  heritage.  The  enemies  of  Methodism  in  the 
South  would  rejoice;  our  people  would  no  longer  adhere 
to  us,  and  we  would  be  disbanded.  Wre  protested.  Our 
protest  was  considered.  A  plan  of  separation  was 
adopted,  and  the  Southern  delegates  returned  home  to 
report  the  disaster  and  to  do  the  best  they  could  under 
all  the  disabilities  laid  upon  them.1' 

This  statement  is  succinct  and  honest,  and,  from  Mc- 
Ferrin's  point  of  view,  correct.  The  same  facts  have 
been  given  a  different  coloring  by  men  equally  well  in- 
formed and  no  less  honest  than  himself.     Where  is  the 


158  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

truth?  Not  in  the  speeches  of  the  great  and  good  men 
who  with  all  the  vehemence  of  passionate  sincerity  con- 
tended with  each  other  and  for  the  right  as  they  saw  it; 
not  in  any  partisan  account  of  the  struggle  written 
while  yet  the  scars  of  the  combat  remained.  Majorities 
are  apt  to  be  overbearing,  and  minorities  are  apt  to  be 
suspicious  and  sensitive.  Hard-headed  Northerners  and 
hot-headed  Southerners  came  thus  into  collision,  and, 
like  chlorine  and  nitrogen,  exploded  in  the  concussion. 
McFerrin  stood  with  the  South,  and  had  no  perceptible 
misgivings  as  to  the  justice  of  its  cause.  His  friend 
Janes  took  the  other  side  as  confidently  and  conscien- 
tiously. Their  personal  friendship'  was  never  broken 
while  they  both  lived.  In  the  renewed  fellowship  and 
fuller  light  upon  which  they  have  since  entered  in  the 
world  of  spirits  they  now  see  the  truth  that  we  are  here 
so  slow  to  learn  and  so  quick  to  forget — that  with  good 
men  radical  differences  of  opinion  may  co-exist  with  gra- 
cious agreement  in  spirit. 

The  General  Conference  re-elected  McFerrin  editor 
of  the  South-western  Christian  Advocate  without  op- 
position. "  This,"  he  declares  very  naturally,  "  was 
gratifying  after  a  struggle  of  nearly  four  years,  and  es- 
pecially in  view  of  the  conflict  going  on  in  the  General 
Conference  on  sectional  questions." 

On  June  n,  1844,  this  memorable  General  Confer- 
ence adjourned,  and  American  Methodism,  after  plung- 
ing the  Niagara  of  separation,  entered  upon  its  passage 
through  the  whirlpool  of  conflict  that  rushed  and  roared 
before  it. 


DISPUTING,  PREACHING,  TRAVELING. 


McFERRIN  and  Green,  after  the  close  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  returned  homeward  by  Niagara 
Falls  and  the  Northern  Lakes.  The  scenery  on  the 
Hudson,  the  sublimity  of  the  mighty  cataract,  the  sweep 
around  the  lakes  and  the  vast  prairies,  so  engaged  their 
delighted  attention  that  the  hardships  and  inconveniences 
of  travel  were  forgotten.  The  companionship  of  Green 
would  have  enlivened  a  journey  across  the  dreariest 
desert.  The  things  they  saw  and  the  things  they  said 
would  enliven  as  well  as  enlarge  this  narrative  if  either 
of  them  had  put  them  on  paper;  but  we  have  only  a 
glimpse  of  the  brother  preachers  on  this  journey,  which 
was  then  a  great  undertaking,  but  which  can  now  be 
made  while  the  earth  is  making  two  of  its  diurnal  revo- 
lutions on  its  axis.  At  Chicago  McFerrin  bought  a  pair 
of  mud-boots,  which  he  "found  of  great  advantage  in 
wading  in  the  water  and  slush  of  the  prairies."  Those 
were  the  days  when  what  was  called  stage-riding  in 
Illinois  was  "  to  pull  off  your  coat  and  throw  it  into  the 
vehicle,  shoulder  a  fence-rail,  and  walk  alongside  of  it 
to  be  ready  to  help  prize  it  out  of  the  mud-holes."  This 
bit  of  philosophizing  was  indulged  in  by  McFerrin  in 
the  retrospect  of  this  visit  to  Chicago.  "  Had  we  been 
possessed  of  foresight  as  well  as  after-sight,  we  could 
with  a  few  hundred  dollars  have  made  purchase  of  real 
estate  that  within  a  few  years  would  have  made  us  mill- 
ionaires.     So  be  it.     A    great  fortune   is   sometimes   o 

(159) 


1G0  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

great  calamity,  not  to  say  an  absolute  curse.  Godliness 
with  contentment  is  great  gain.  If  a  man  gain  the 
whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul,  what  advantageth 
it  him  ?  "  Had  he  by  such  a  purchase  become  a  million- 
aire Methodist  preacher,  it  is  possible  that  the  handling 
of  all  that  money  would  have  destroyed  the  efficiency 
of  one  of  the  most  faithful  servants  the  Church  ever 
had.  Not  many  rich  men  seem  to  be  called  to  this  min- 
istry, and  very  few  indeed  are  called  to  get  rich  after  they 
enter  into  its  sacred  covenants. 

By  the  time  he  had  gotten  back  to  Nashville  McFer- 
rin  found  that  the  storm  of  sectional  conflict  had  burst 
in  all  its  fury.  It  was  evident  that  a  still  fiercer  battle 
had  to  be  fought  between  the  North  and  the  South. 
Dr.  Bond,  the  able  editor  of  the  New  Tork  Christian 
Advocate — a  Marylander  by  birth — took  ground  against 
Bishop  Andrew  and  against  the  separation  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  into  two  General  Conferences. 
Dr.  Elliott,  of  the  Cincinnati  Christian  Advocate, 
though  one  of  the  committee  of  nine  which  submitted 
the  Plan  of  Separation,  soon  changed  position  and 
wheeled  into  line  with  Dr.  Bond,  opposing  a  division  of 
the  property  of  the  Church  as  provided  for  therein. 
This  opened  the  war,  and  it  flamed  all  over  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  Church.  The  South-western  Chris- 
tian Advocate  had  no  circulation  north  of  the  Tennessee 
line.  In  the  States  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri  both  the 
New  York  and  Cincinnati  Advocates  circulated  widely. 
The  ground  being  thus  preoccupied,  McFerrin  antici- 
pated much  difficulty  in  introducing  the  Nashville  paper 
into  territory  north  of  it.  But  this  was  the  thing  he 
wished  to  do,  and  he  set  about  it  at  once.  The  red  flag 
was  flying,  and  his  place  was  at  the  front.     It  was  soon 


DISPUTING,  PREACHING,   TRAVELING.      161 

manifest  that  the  course  of  the  Southern  delegates  in 
the  late  General  Conference  would  be  sustained  almost 
unanimously  by  the  Southern  Annual  Conferences. 
Primary  meetings  were  held,  resolutions  of  approval 
were  adopted,  and  the  calling  of  a  Convention  recom- 
mended. The  Annual  Conferences  convened  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  summer  and  early  in  the  autumn  along 
the  Northern  border.  McFerrin  attended  the  Kentucky 
Conference,  held  at  Bowling  Green,  at  which  Bishop 
Janes  presided.  By  an  overwhelming  vote  this  Confer- 
ence adhered  South,  electing  delegates  to  a  General  Con- 
vention to  be  held  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  May  I,  1845. 
Bishop  Janes  presided  with  great  fairness,  allowing  all 
questions  at  issue  to  be  fully  discussed.  The  leading 
spirit  in  the  Conference  was  Henry  B.  Bascom:  with 
him  were  Kavanaugh,  Hinkle,  Crouch,  Brush,  and  oth- 
ers, who  were  men  of  might  in  the  Church.  Under 
the  stress  of  the  existing  circumstances,  and  the  persua- 
sions of  McFerrin,  the  Conference  resolved  to  sustain 
the  Nashville  paper,  and  from  that  time  forward  its  cir- 
culation greatly  increased  in  Kentucky.  Its  moral  in- 
fluence was  equal  to  an  army  of  occupation. 

McFerrin  also  attended  the  Missouri  Conference, 
which  convened  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  Bishop  Morris 
presiding.  The  question  of  the  times  was  before  that 
body,  of  course.  The  Missouri  Methodists  were  South- 
ern in  their  feelings,  but  they  had  seen  but  one  side  of 
the  controversy,  as  the  New  York  and  Cincinnati  organs 
of  the  Church  had  hitherto  been  read  by  them  almost 
exclusively.  The  Missouri  delegates  in  the  General 
Conference  at  New  York  had  affiliated  heartily  with 
their  Southern  brethren.  W.  W.  Redman,  James  M. 
Jamison,  William  Patton,  and  J.  C.  Berryman  stood 
11 


162  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

firmly  with  them  during  the  whole  of  that  protracted 
struggle.  After  the  adjournment  of  the  General  Con- 
ference Mr.  Jamison,  for  some  cause,  changed  his  mind 
and  threw  the  weight  of  his  influence  on  the  other  side. 
Being  a  popular  man,  he  created  some  interest,  and 
seemed  to  be  rallying  a  formidable  party.  He  came  to 
the  Conference  session  confidently  expecting  to  prevent 
the  Missouri  from  going  with  the  other  Southern  Con- 
ferences. Strong  ties  of  personal  friendship  drew  and 
held  to  him  a  number  of  the  preachers  who  were  dis- 
posed to  sustain  him  in  his  war  against  the  Southern 
movement.  The  business  of  the  Conference  was  con- 
ducted in  a  most  courteous  and  equitable  manner  by 
Bishop  Morris.  Ample  opportunity  was  given  for  dis- 
cussion. The  debate  was  animated,  the  sturdy,  fearless 
Missourians  giving  and  taking  heavy  blows  with  the 
unflinching  courage  characteristic  of  them.  The  South- 
ern  sentiment  was  too  strong  to  be  successfully  resisted. 
The  Missouri  Conference  took  position  with  Kentucky, 
approving  the  action  of  the  delegates  to  the  General 
Conference,  and  electing  delegates  to  the  proposed  Gen- 
eral Convention. 

The  Tennessee  Conference  convened  this  year  at  Co- 
lumbia, Tennessee,  October  4,  1844.  Bishop  Janes  pre- 
sided, and  preached  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  body  and  visitors. 

The  action  of  the  General  Conference  in  the  case  of 
Bishop  Andrew  and  F.  A.  Harding,  and  the  subsequent 
proceedings  in  reference  to  the  division  of  the  Church 
funds  and  the  organization  of  two  General  Conferences, 
were  calmly  considered.  A  committee  of  nine — con- 
sisting of  F.  E.  Pitts,  Joshua  Boucher,  F.  G.  Ferguson, 
G.  W.  Dye,  P.  P.  Neely,  W.  D.  F.  Sawrie,  John  W. 


DISPUTING,  PREACHING,   TRAVELING.      163 

Hanner,  A.  F.  Driskill,  and  R.  L.  Andrews — was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  and  report  on  the  subject.  In  their 
report  the  committee  unanimously  approved  the  action 
of  the  Southern  delegates  at  the  General  Conference, 
commended  their  own  representatives,  and  recommend- 
ed the  election  of  delegates  to  the  General  Convention 
to  be  held  in  Louisville  May  i,  1845.  The  delegates 
chosen  were  Robert  Paine,  J.  B.  McFerrin,  A.  L.  P 
Green,  F.  E.  Pitts,  A.  F.  Driskill,  John  W.  Hanner, 
Joshua  Boucher,  Thomas  Maddin,  F.  G.  Ferguson,  and 
Robert  L.  Andrews.  In  earnest  words  the  Conference 
deprecated  the  division  of  the  Church,  but  affirmed  its 
solemn  conviction  that  nothing  short  of  separation  could 
save  Methodism  in  the  South,  unless  the  Northern  ma- 
jority would  "  reconsider  and  repair  the  injury  already 
done."  That  proviso  was  well  meant,  but  the  words 
were  wasted.  The  action  taken  when  the  storm  was 
rising  would  not  be  repealed  when  it  was  in  full  sweep 
over  the  land.  If  the  leaders  on  both  sides  had  been 
mere  politicians  maneuvering  only  for  party  success,  a 
compromise  might  have  been  possible.  But  the  paradox 
meets  us,  as  we  review  the  struggle,  that  the  very  good- 
ness and  sincerity  of  the  actors  on  both  sides  made  the 
breach  irreparable.  The  North  acted  under  the  compul- 
sion of  a  conscientious  conviction  that  domestic  slavery 
was  an  evil  with  which  its  ministry  could  have  no  complic- 
ity. The  South  acted  under  a  sense  of  solemn  and  impe- 
rious necessity,  believing  (and  most  truly)  that  to  yield  to 
the  demands  of  the  North  would  be  the  annihilation  of 
Methodism  in  the  slave-holding  States.  The  conditions 
that  produced  this  peculiar  and  unhappy  situation,  in 
which  a  people  so  noted  for  the  liberality  of  their  views 
and    the  warmth   of  their  affections  were  thrown   into 


164  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


irreconcilable  differences  among  themselves,  were  not  of 
their  own  creation.  The  actors  in  that  final  struggle 
had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  other  men's  mistakes  and  to 
incur  the  risk  that  posterity  might  heap  upon  them  the 
opprobrium  due  to  criminals  rather  than  the  sympathy 
due  to  martyrs.  They  were  godly,  earnest  men  on  both 
sides.  That  here  and  there  was  found  among  them  an 
ecclesiastical  politician  who  sought  to  trim  his  sails  to 
catch  the  popular  breeze  we  may  concede;  but  they 
were  few  in  number,  and  were  rated  at  their  real  value 
by  both  sides  in  the  end. 

The  Methodists  in  the  North,  in  the  meantime,  were 
agitated  to  an  equal  degree.  The  editors  and  others 
on  both  sides,  who  were  in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  nat- 
urally became  more  vehement  and  bitter  as  the  contro- 
versy went  forward.  It  is  dangerous  to  some  persons 
to  spar  for  sport;  in  giving  and  returning  blows  they  get 
more  and  more  heated,  and  what  begins  in  sport  ends  in 
a  fight.  So  it  is  writh  men  who  begin  a  discussion  such 
as  that  which  was  then  going  on.  They  began  with 
sincere  protestations  of  regret  that  any  cause  of  differ- 
ence existed,  and  with  expressions  of  mutual  esteem  and 
affection;  but  the  blows  they  dealt  became  harder  and 
harder  until,  the  barriers  of  Christian  moderation  once 
broken  over,  they  astonished  one  another  by  the  exhi- 
bition of  a  virulence  hitherto  unsuspected  and  incred- 
ible. If  the  warriors  of  the  period  of  which  we  are 
now  speaking  could  now  read  in  paradise  all  that  they 
then  wrote  and  spoke,  they  would  be  astonished  at  them- 
selves. There  was  bewilderment,  misgiving,  and  sor- 
row, as  well  as  wrath  and  bitterness,  on  both  sides;  but 
in  such  a  crisis  the  currents  of  passion  are  usually  so 
strong  that  all  are  swept  before  it — the  conservative  and 


DISPUTING,  PREACHING,  TRAVELING. 


165 


the  radical  alike.  So  it  was  in  this  instance.  A  solid 
North  seemed  to  confront  a  solid  South,  while  there 
were  tens  of  thousands  on  this  side  and  on  that  whose 
only  difference  was  the  accidental  one  of  geographical 
position.  It  was  a  hard  time  for  men  of  quiet  spirit  and 
peaceful  inclinations.  The  good  Bishop  Hedding  will 
furnish  an  illustration.  He  "adhered"  North,  but  he 
loved  the  whole  Church,  and  his  heart  was  sorely 
grieved  at  the  necessity  for  taking  sides.  He  presided 
at  the  session  of  the  Philadelphia  Conference  in  the 
spring  of  1846.  On  the  .presentation  of  candidates  for 
deacon's  orders  the  following  proceedings  (as  quoted 
from  a  contemporaneous  record)  took  place: 

"  The  Rev.  Mr.  Quigly  proposed  that  each  candidate 
should  be  asked  whether  he  was  a  slave-holder,  and 
whether  he  was  engaged  in  any  of  the  modern  move- 
ments for  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery;  and  none 
dissenting,  the  question  was  severally  asked  as  follows: 
"Bishop  Hedding:  'Are  you  a  slave-holder?' 
"  To  which  all  answered, '  No.' 

"Bishop  Hedding:  'Glory  to  the  Conference!  not 
one  of  their  souls  is  stained  with  the  blood  of  Africa.' 

"The  Bishop  then  informed  the  candidates  that  he 
was  about  to  put  a  question  the  meaning  of  which,  be- 
fore put,  he  was  in  duty  bound  to  explain  as  he  under- 
stood it.  By  an  'Abolitionist,'  in  the  sense  he  was  about 
interrogatively  to  use  it,  he  meant  not  one  who  was  op- 
posed to  the  holding  of  men  in  bondage  for  mere  gain, 
for  the  purpose  of  growing  rich  by  slave  labor,  to  grind 
the  face  of  the  poor  that  the  master  might  be  exalted  ;  but 
he  meant  those  who  uncharitably  denounced  men  who 
happened  to  have  been  born  in  a  slave-holding  State, 
born  in  the  possession  or  heritage  of  slaves,  who  treated 


166  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


them  well;  who  nurtured  the  sick  and  the  poor;  who  did 
not  hold  them  for  mere  gain,  but  for  good ;  who  did  the 
beat  they  could  under  all  circumstances.  After  this  ex- 
planation the  Bishop  said  that  in  asking  them  if  they 
were  Abolitionists  he  meant  to  ask  if  they  were  pre- 
pared to  curse  all  who  were  slave-holders,  under  any  and 
all  circumstances. 

"Bishop  Hedding:  'Are  you  an  Abolitionist?' 

"  To  which  all  answered,  '  No.' 

"Bishop  Hedding:  'Thank  God!  there  is  none  of 
them  willing  to  cut  off  the  heads  of  our  Southern  breth- 
ren because  they  happen  to  hold  slaves." 

About  this  time  Bishop  Andrew  published  a  letter  to 
the  Methodists  of  the  South  and  South-west,  which  is 
so  characteristic  of  the  man   and  of  the  times   that  we 

make  room  for  it  here: 

# 

BISHOP  ANDREW'S  LETTER. 
To  the  Methodists  of  the  South  and  South-west: 

Dear  Brethren : — The  position  in  which  we  are  mutually  placed 
by  the  organization  of  the  Southern  Conferences  into  the  M.  E. 
Church,  South,  will  probably  be  a  sufficient  apology  for  the  liberty 
I  take  in  thus  addressing  you.  The  Southern  Annual  Conferences 
having  aH,  without  exception,  ratified  the  acts  of  the  late  Louis- 
ville Convention,  and  elected  delegates  to  represent  them  in  the 
approaching  General  Conference  at  Petersburg,  I  may  be  allowed 
to  congratulate  you  on  the  unexampled  unanimity  of  sentiment 
and  feeling  with  which  this  movement  has  been  carried  through, 
the  peace  which  pervades  the  new  Connection,  and  the  security 
and  equality  of  ecclesiastical  rights  thus  effected.  Southern  Meth- 
odists now  feel  that  their  privileges  are  not  held  at  the  mercy  of  a 
wild  and  wayward  fanaticism  which  makes  its  caprice  and  its 
power  the  rule  of  action,  and  which  by  mere  courtesy  allows  slave- 
holders to  "continue  members  of  the  Church.  Instead  of  the 
quadrennial  struggle  which  in  former  times  made  the  General 
Conference  the  arena  of  strife,  and  which  continually  threatened 
to  put  the  ecclesiastical  power  in  conflict  with  the  laws  of   the 


DISPUTING,  PREACHING,   TRAVELING. 


167 


Southern  States,  and  periled  the  gospel  which  it  has  ever  been 
the  peculiar  mission  of  the  Southern  ministry  to  preach  to  the 
poor,  we  now  look  forward  to  peaceable  sessions,  where  the  appro- 
priate work  of  the  Christian  ministry  will  alone  claim  attention, 
deliberation,  and  action. 

Will  you  allow  me  to  express  the  wish  that,  in  behalf  of  the 
approaching  General  Conference— the  first  to  be  held  under  the 
new  organization— frequent,  fervent,  and  united  prayer  may  go  up 
to  the  throne  of  the  heavenly  grace  that  God  may  vouchsafe  to 
the  members  composing  that  body  the  unction,  rich  and  full  and 
free,  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  without  whose  light  and  aid  nothing  good 
can' be  effected?  Send  up  to  the  mercy-seat  from  every  family 
and  Church  altar,  and  from  every  closet  throughout  our  extended 
Zion,  mighty  and  believing  prayer  that  Jesus,  who  bought  the 
Church  with  his  own  blood,  and  who  as  the  great  Shepherd  of 
souls  careth  for  the  flock,  may  be  present  in  our  midst;  may  pre- 
side in  our  counsels,  to  enlighten,  direct,  and  restrain ;  that  the  de- 
liberations of  that  body,  which  must  be  so  influential  for  good  or 
evil  through  all  time  to  come  to  the  Church  of  which  it  is  the 
highest  council,  may  in  all  their  issues  be  for  the  manifestation  of 
the  truth  and  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  God  among  men. 
The  best  ability  and  strength  of  the  Church  will  be  found  in  that 
assembly ;  yet  our  trust  is  not  in  an  arm  of  flesh,  but  in  the  living 
God.  His  presence  and  blessing  will  give  prosperity,  will  insure 
a  successful  result  to  all  the  measures  for  the  weal  of  the  Church 
which  may  be  devised  and  instituted  on  that  important  occasion. 
And  we  are  confident  that  the  prayer  of  faith,  presented  most 
humbly  but  most  earnestly,  and  in  the  all -prevailing  name  of  Jesus, 
will  secure  to  us  the  Divine  guidance  and  blessing. 

Indulge  me  with  the  liberty  to  add  that  it  is  most  devoutly  to 
be  wished  that  the  commencement  of  our  history  as  an  independ- 
ent Church,  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  a  Southern  Gen- 
eral Conference,  may  be  marked  as  a  memorable  starting-point 
in  a  fresh  and  glorious  career  of  holiness  and  usefulness.  Let  us 
labor  and  look  for  a  large  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  such  a  deep- 
ening of  the  work  of  grace  in  the  Church  as  has  not  heretofore 
been  known.  Let  preachers  and  people  pray  for  a  mighty  and 
sweeping  revival  of  religion ;  seek  it  from  God,  through  Christ, 
night  and  day,  in  solitary  and  united  supplication,  and  never  rest 
until  our  stations,  circuits,  and  districts  feel  the  hallowed  influence 


168  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

of  the  promised  Spirit  of  grace,  and  rejoice  in  the  triumphant 
march  of  truth  and  holiness  over  the  land.  Then,  and  then  only, 
shall  Ave  have  old-fashioned,  primitive,  genuine  Methodism,  when 
believers  are  advancing  in  holiness,  and  sinners  by  scores  and 
hundreds  are  turning  to  God.  For  this  high  and  holy  end  all 
Church  organizations  should  exist.  Where  this  is  not  accom- 
plished all  else  is  vain ;  the  body  has  no  quickening  spirit,  no 
vital,  heaven-kindled  soul;  the  temple  has  no  indwelling  divinity. 
I  beseech  my  brethren  in  the  ministry  to  seek  a  fresh  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  to  give  themselves'  with  redoubled  energies  to 
their  one  great  work  of  calling  sinners  to  repentance  and  build- 
ing tip  believers  in  their  most  holy  faith;  to  bestir  themselves 
that  the  blood  of  souls  be  not  found  upon  their  garments.  Let 
us  gird  ourselves  afresh  for  the  duties  appropriate  to  our  present 
circumstances,  maintaining  an  unwavering  loyalty  to  Christ  and 
an  unfaltering  faith  in  God's  promise,  and  looking  with  confidence 
to  see  the  work  of  holiness  increasing  and  spreading  over  these 
Southern  lands. 

And  now  that  the  God  of  peace  may  direct  and  sustain  the 
whole  Church,  membership  and  ministry,  in  the  blessed  paths  of 
peace  and  holiness,  and  save  us  all  in  his  heavenly  kingdom,  is 
the  devout  prayer  of  yours,  most  affectionately, 

James  O.  Andrew. 

Oxford,  April,  1846. 

The  Conference,  by  a  very  hearty  vote,  indorsed  Mc- 
Ferrin's  course  as  editor.  He  had  borne  himself  so 
wisely  and  courageously  in  the  great  debate,  and  had 
managed  the  financial  interests  of  the  paper  with  such 
energy  and  skill,  that  this  expression  was  no  more  than 
his  due. 

The  election  for  President  of  the  United  States  took 
place  while  the  Conference  was  in  session.  Bishop 
Janes,  Dr.  Paine,  A.  L.  P.  Green,  McFerrin,  and  a  few 
others,  dined  with  Mr.  James  K.  Polk,  the  Democratic 
candidate,  on  the  day  of  the  election.  He  seemed  per- 
fectly calm,  and  entertained  his  guests  as  though  noth- 
ing uncommon  was  on  hand.     At  night,  though  the  re- 


DISPUTING,  PREACHING,   TRAVELING.      169 

turns  were  coming  in  from  the  surrounding  country,  he 
went  to  Church  and  was  perfectly  collected,  manifesting 
outwardly  little  concern  as  to  what  might  be  the  result. 
The  session  was  long,  harmonious,  and   remarkably 
spiritual  in  its  tone.      In  the  presence  of  the  great  issues 
before  them,  and  looking  to  a  future  as  yet  all  unknown 
to  them,  they  were  solemn  and  prayerful.     The  closing 
scene  was   one   of    great    power.      The  brethren  sung 
with  spirit  the  hymn  then  popular,  "He  died  at  his  post." 
Every    heart  was    moved  with   its    martial    strains,  and 
shouts  of  praise  went   up   to   God  from    these   men   in 
'  whose  hearts  glowed  the  spirit  of  heroes  and  martyrs 
The  origin  and  tone  of  this  lyric  illustrate  the  times  in 
which  it  was  written.     The  Rev.  Thomas  Drummond 
was    born   in   Manchester,  England,  January   27,  1S06; 
came  to  this  country  in  early  life,  and  after  his  conver- 
sion  joined    the   Methodist    Episcopal  Church;  was   li- 
censed to  preach,  and  admitted  into  the  Pittsburgh  Con- 
ference.     After    filling    several    appointments    in    that 
Conference  he  was  transferred  by  Bishop  Soule  to  the 
Missouri  Conference,  in  1835,  and  stationed  in  St.  Louis. 
He  had  preached   on    Sunday,  June    14,  with  his  usual 
perspicuity  and  power,  expressing  with  great  pathos  the 
joyful  feelings  which  animate  the  possessor  of  strong 
Christian   faith  in   view  of  heaven.     He  was   attacked 
with  cholera  the  same  evening,  and  died  the  next  day. 
Though  suffering  great  pain,   he  died  in  triumph,  say- 
ing, among   other  things,  "Tell    my  brethren    of    the 
Pittsburgh  Conference  that  I  died  at  my  post."    Young, 
brilliant,  and    popular,  his   sudden   death  among  stran- 
gers  produced  a    profound    impression,  especially  upon 
his  old  comrades   of    the   Pittsburgh   Conference,  who 
were  deeply   moved  when  his   message  reached  them, 


170  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

reminding  them  that  he  thought  of  them  in  his  dy- 
ing moments,  and  wished  them  to  know  of  his  stead- 
fastness to  duty.  They  wept  for  him  as  a  brother  be- 
loved, and  Dr.  William  Hunter,  a  member  of  the  body, 
who  had  much  of  the  sentiment  and  music  of  poetry  in 
his  soul,  put  the  dying  message  of  the  young  preacher 
into  this  lyric,  which  became  very  popular  with  our  song- 
loving  and  heroic  fathers.  There  may  have  been  better 
poetry  in  some  of  Hunter's  "  Select  Melodies;"  but  the 
pathetic  incident  on  which  it  was  founded,  and  the  stir- 
ring air  to  which  it  was  sung,  gave  this  production  of  his 
muse  a  wide  popularity  while  the  facts  were  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  the  people,  and  the  militant  spirit  animated  its 
self-denying  and  heroic  ministry.  The  music  and  fire  of 
the  old  times  will  come  back  to  a  gray-haired  soldier  of 
the  cross  here  and  there  as  he  reads  the  lines: 

Away  from  his  home  and  the  friends  of  his  youth 
He  hasted,  the  herald  of  mercy  and  truth ; 
For  the  love  of  his  Lord,  and  to  seek  for  the  lost; 
Soon,  alas!  was  his  fall — but  he  died  at  his  post. 

The  stranger's  eye  wept  that,  in  life's  brightest  bloom, 
One  gifted  so  highly  should  sink  to  the  tomb; 
For  with  ardor  he  led  in  the  van  of  the  host, 
And  he  fell  like  a  soldier — he  died  at  his  post. 

He  wept  not  himself  that  his  warfare  was  done; 

The  battle  was  fought  and  the  victory  won; 

But  he  whispered  of  those  whom  his  heart  clung  to  most, 

"  Tell  my  brethren,  for  me,  that  I  died  at  my  post." 

He  asked  not  a  stone  to  be  sculptured  with  verse ; 
He  asked  not  that  fame  should  his  merits  rehearse; 
But  he  asked  as  a  boon,  when  he  gave  up  the  ghost, 
That  his  brethren  might  know  that  he  died  at  his  post 

Victorious  his  fall,  for  he  rose  as  he  fell, 
With  Jesus,  his  Master,  in  glory  to  dwell ; 


DISPUTING,  PREACHING,  TRAVELING.      171 

He  has  passed  o'er  the  stream,  and  has  i-eached  the  bright  coast, 
For  he  fell  like  a  martyr — he  died  at  his  post. 

And  can  we  the  words  of  his  exit  forget? 

O  no!  they  are  fresh  in  our  memory  yet; 
An  example  so  brilliant  shall  never  be  lost; 

We  will  fall  in  the  work — we  will  die  at  our  post. 

So  our  fathers  sung,  so  they  lived,  so  they  died.  It  is 
not  strange  that,  forty  years  afterward,  McFerrin  felt 
his  heart  stirred  with  the  old  fires  as  he  recalled  the  sing- 
ing and  the  shouting  at  Gallatin. 

This  was  a  stormy  year  to  McFerrin.  He  had  a 
memorable  controversy  on  the  subject  of  dancing  by 
Church-members,  the  particulars  of  which  may  be  omit- 
ted here,  but  in  reference  to  which,  long  years  after,  he 
used  these  emphatic  words:  "I.  now  here  and  again  re- 
cord my  settled  opinion  that  dancing  is  a  pernicious  prac- 
tice, and  should  not  be  allowed  in  the  Church.  Persons 
who  will  persist  in  dancing,  after  a  fair  trial  to  reform 
them,  should  be  cut  off.  I  never  knew  a  devoted  Chris- 
tia?i  who  loved  to  dance  or  who  indulged  in  the  habit.'''' 
The  Tennessee  Conference,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  sus- 
tained his  course  in  this  controversy. 

His  characteristic  energy  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that, 
immediately  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Tennessee 
Conference,  McFerrin  accompanied  Bishop  Janes  to  the 
Memphis  and  Mississippi  Conferences — the  first  at  Som- 
erville,  Tennessee,  and  the  second  at  Port  Gibson,  Mis- 
sissippi. The  journey  was  pleasant,  and  his  reception 
by  the  brethren  kind.  His  course  as  editor  was  warmly 
approved,  and  the  patronage  of  his  paper  greatly  in- 
creased. How  it  was  edited  during  these  long  absences 
he  does  not  tell  us;  so  we  infer  that  Dr.  Elliott  was  stilJ 
helping  him  in  that  work. 


172  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

On  his  return  from  Mississippi  he  had  what  he  called 
"a  slight  discussion"  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Tomlinson  on 
the  question  of  the  division  of  the  Church.  Tomlinson 
was  an  eloquent  preacher  and  a  good  writer,  but  in  this 
instance  he  became  entangled  in  strange  inconsistencies. 
After  making  a  strong  speech  in  the  Kentucky  Confer- 
ence favorable  to  the  Southern  view,  he  changed  to  the 
other  side,  and  his  articles  on  that  side  were  very  severe. 
There  was  a  defect  in  his  organization  at  some  point, 
and  his  life  ended  tragically.  He  became  mentally  de- 
ranged, and  died,  it  was  said,  by  his  own  hand.  His 
erratic  course  may  be  explained  by  his  mental  infirmity, 
then  unsuspected  by  his  robust  and  ready  antagonist. 
Had  McFerrin  known  the  fate  that  was  impending 
over  the  brilliant  Tomlinson,  the  tone  of  this  "  slight 
discussion  "  might  have  been  modified. 

From  this  time  until  the  first  of  May  [  1845]  the  dis- 
cussion was  animated.  McFerrin  was  in  the  very  focus 
of  the  fight.  He  had  many  a  tilt  with  Dr.  Bond,  of  the 
New  York  Christian  Advocate,  and  with  Dr.  Elliott,  of 
the  Western  Christian  Advocate,  at  Cincinnati — both 
men  of  ability,  large  attainments,  and  controversial  skill. 
Prior  to  1844  these  papers  had  a  very  large  circulation 
in  the  West.  Notwithstanding  their  powerful  influence, 
the  Southern  cause  was  well  sustained,  and  Kentucky 
and  Missouri  were  saved  to  that  side.  In  both  these 
Conferences  there  were  noble  and  talented  men  who 
came  to  the  front  when  wanted — Bascom,  Kavanaugh, 
Henkle,  the  Stevensons,  Crouch,  Ralston,  Latta,  Red- 
man, Berryman,  Patton,  and  others.  It  is  noticeable 
that  in  this  conflict  McFerrin  took  a  graver  tone,  and 
was  more  circumspect  in  his  use  of  words  than  was 
usual  with  him.     The  momentous  issue  sobered  while 


DISPUTING,  PREACHING,   TRAVELING.      173 

it  nerved  him.  He  struck  straight,  hard  blows  that 
were  very  effective,  but  it  is  evident  that  he  tried  to  rise 
above  the  low  plane  of  party  feeling  and  to  speak  and 
write  in  view  of  the  judgment  and  eternity.  "  In  all 
this  controversy,"  he  wrote  after  most  of  the  combat- 
ants on  both  sides  were  dead  and  buried,  "  I  strove  to 
do  all  parties  justice,  and  I  never  willfully  misrepresented 
any  one,  nor  did  any  one  intentional  injustice."  Bond 
and  Elliott  and  Tomlinson  may  have  thought  differently 
at  the  time,  but  none  will  dispute  his  statement  now.  No 
honest  man  ever  does  "  intentional  injustice  "  in  a  contro- 
versy, but  when  the  blood  is  hot  in  battle  the  tempta- 
tion to  take  a  nigh-cut  to  victory  is  so  strong  that  the 
best  of  men  who  feel  that  duty  constrains  them  to  enter 
the  arena  of  debate  will  do  well  to  watch  closely  and 
pray  much. 

In  the  issue  of  his  paper  for  April  n,  1845,  McFer- 
rin  announced  that  it  was  out  of  debt.  The  strong 
man  rejoiced  with  a  pardonable  exultation  to  be  appre- 
ciated by  only  two  classes  of  persons — those  who  have 
had  the  burden  of  debt  lifted  from  them,  and  those 
who  have  vainly  longed  for  such  deliverance.  "  Owe  no 
man  any  thing,"  was  his  rule.  He  was  a  Connectional 
debt-payer  for  his  Church,  and  in  his  private  business 
affairs  he  was  most  punctual.  He  guarded  well  this  point 
at  which  too  many  are  weak — and  he  had  his  reward. 


AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION. 


THE  Convention  at  which  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  was  organized  met  at  Louisville 
on  the  first  day  of  May,  1S45.  McFerrin  was  in  his 
place  as  a  delegate  at  the  opening — with  what  feelings 
no  one  who  was  not  an  actor  in  that  notable  historic  as- 
sembly can  now  fully  realize.  Commiseration  and  ad- 
miration are  mingled  in  the  review  of  what  they  said 
and  did — commiseration  on  account  of  the  sad  necessity 
under  which  they  were  constrained  to  act;  admiration 
for  the  wisdom  and  heroism  displayed  by  them  in  meet- 
ing the  great  crisis  that  directly  involved  the  destiny  of 
Methodism,  and  indirectly,  to  no  small  extent,  that  of  the 
nation.  A  majority  of  the  delegates  were  clear  in  the 
solemn  conviction  that  separation  or  the  practical  anni- 
hilation of  Methodism  in  the  South  were  the  only  alter- 
natives. They  were  praying  men,  and  moved  as  under 
the  eye  of  God.  They  knew  the  temper  of  their  sec- 
tion of  the  Union.  They  loved  the  Church  they  had 
builded  in  the  South  with  so  much  toil  and  self-sacrifice, 
and  felt  that  its  preservation  was  a  paramount  duty  de- 
volved upon  them  in  the  order  of  divine  providence. 
But  they  were  not  the  men  to  sever  heartlessly  the  ties 
that  bound  them  to  their  brethren  in  the  North.  Upon 
their  minds  rushed  a  flood  of  sacred  memories  common 
to  all  American  Methodists.  The  asperities  of  recent 
controversy  had  not  obliterated  the  personal  friendships 
of  brethren  who,  though  divided  in  opinion,  were  yet 
(174) 


AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION.         175 

one  in  heart.  The  men  who  wept  in  heaviest  sorrow 
at  New  York,  when  first  they  felt  they  must  separate, 
were  stirred  still  more  deeply  at  Louisville  when  the 
time  came  for  them  to  take  decisive  action.  They  did 
not  falter.  Separation  was  a  foregone  conclusion;  the 
people  had  voted  it,  and  to  their  representatives  in  con- 
vention assembled  nothing  was  left  but  to  formulate 
their  wishes  and  launch  the  new  ship  upon  a  stormy  sea. 
They  were  equal  to  the  emergencv,  moving  with  delib- 
eration, skill,  and  courage  at  every  step.  The  passions 
that  had  been  roused  in  the  struggle  of  the  late  General 
Conference  at  New  York,  and  in  the  contests  along  the 
border,  were  doubtless  seething  in  the  hearts  of  some  of 
the  delegates  who  had  been  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight, 
and  who  came  up  to  the  Convention  still  smarting  from 
its  wounds.  Here  and  there  was  one  of  those  men  of 
war  who,  like  stormy  petrels,  seemed  to  be  happiest 
in  the  midst  of  a  gale  like  that  which  was  now  agitat- 
ing the  waters  upon  which  the  old  Methodist  ship  was 
tossing.  These  men  were  men  of  like  passions  with  us 
their  descendants,  who  have  fretted  and  fumed  at  one 
another  with  far  less  provocation.  They  were  not 
wholly  free  from  the  alloy  that  has  mixed  itself  with 
every  council  of  the  Church  from  that  first  one  held  at 
Jerusalem,  under  the  presidency  of  the  wise  and  conserv- 
ative Apostle  James,  down  to  the  last  General,  Annual, 
District,  or  Quarterly  Conference  of  the  Methodists  of 
to-day.  But  they  were  a  body  of  men  who  rose  to  the 
height  of  a  great  occasion,  among  whom  were  real  in- 
tellectual giants.  They  were  many  of  them  men  who 
had  braved  the  hardships  of  the  wilderness  and  wrestled 
with  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  the  frontier.  They 
were  men  who  had  led  the  march  of  Methodism   in  its 


176  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

conquests  southward  and  westward.  There  were  others 
who  had  proved  themselves  powerful  athletes  in  the 
contests  that  had  taken  place  on  the  floor  of  the  General 
Conference  the  year  before  at  New  York.  But  they 
were  men  of  God,  Christian  ministers,  in  whom  had 
been  developed  a  depth  of  sensibility  not  found  in  any 
other  calling.  They  addressed  themselves  to  the  work 
before  them  with  stern  determination.  The  crisis  was 
too  grave  and  the  exigency  too  pressing  for  oratorical 
effusiveness  or  sentimentality  on  the  floor  of  the  Con- 
vention, but  they  spoke  and  voted  with  swelling  hearts. 
If  the  secret  history  of  the  body  could  be  written,  it 
would  reveal  the  fact  that  many  a  bed-chamber  was  a 
place  of  agonizing  prayer}  and  many  a  pillow  was  wet 
with  tears.  The  conditions  that  made  their  movement 
compulsory  were,  as  has  been  already  said,  largely  in- 
herited conditions.  Neither  the  majority  nor  the  mi- 
nority in  1844  can  justly  be  held  responsible  for  the  sep- 
aration of  the  Church.  The  seeds  of  that  separation 
were  planted  by  the  hands  that  planted  Methodism  in 
America,  and  the  prophecy  of  it  was  written  in  the  Fed- 
eral Constitution  and  in  the  Constitutions  of  the  several 
States.  That  the  catastrophe — if  a  catastrophe  it  was  in 
its  final  results — was  precipitated,  and  its  consequences  ag- 
gravated, by  the  infirmities  and  passions  of  the  men  of 
1S44  on  both  sides,  may  now  be  freely  admitted  bv  all 
without  incurring  the  imputation  of  unfairness  or  im- 
peaching the  character  of  the  dead  who  can  not  speak 
either  in  explanation  or  defense. 

A  glance  at  the  -personnel  of  the  body  will  not  be 
out  of  place  here.  Many  of  these  men  have  written  their 
names  in  imperishable  lines  in  the  history  of  the  Church, 
and  no  one  will   complain  that  these  allusions  to  them 


AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  COX  V EXT  I  ON.         177 

are  brief.  The  caliber  and  quality  of  this  body,  if  its 
constituent  elements  were  subjected  to  a  close  analysis, 
would  entitle  it  to  rank  among  the  most  august  assem- 
blies that  have  ever  convened  in  America: 

From  Kentucky  there  was  Bascom,  kingly  in  person 
and  eagle-like  in  the  sweep  and  elevation  of  his  thought; 
Edward  Stevenson,  a  polished  shaft  and  strong;  Kava- 
naugh,  a  giant  in  the  pulpit,  a  child  in  the  guileless  sim- 
plicity of  his  nature;  Crouch,  a  powerful  preacher  and 
a  trusted  counselor;  Brush,  endowed  with  common  sense, 
wit,  and  grace;  McCown,  scholarly,  stately,  and  saintly; 
Ralston,  devout,  gentle,  fervent,  whose  pen  translated 
heavy  theology  into  the  language  of  the  people;  and 
William  Gunn,  who  sung  like  an  Asaph,  and  was  as 
sturdy  as  a  Covenanter. 

Missouri  sent  up  Andrew  Monroe,  a  man  whose  mod- 
esty was  equaled  by  his  good  sense,  conscientious  to  the 
minutest  point,  not  often  heard  on  the  floor,  but  much 
given  to  prayer  in  secret;  Wesley  Browning,  a  man 
who  walked  with  God,  and  was  loved  and  trusted  by 
the  people;  William  Patton,  a  leader  of  large  mold  and 
finely  toned,  eloquent,  impulsive,  generous,  magnetic; 
Boyle,  sagacious  and  brainy,  yet  guileless  and  sweet- 
souled;  and  Thomas  Johnson,  the  apostle  to  the  Indians, 
a  man  of  affairs  and  a  man  of  prayer. 

From  the  high  hills  of  the  Holston  country  came  Cat- 
lett — able,  eccentric, earnest,  hiding  under  his  stern  exte- 
rior a  warm,  loving  nature;  Stringfield,  an  "all-round 
man,"  strong  as  a  writer,  preacher,  and  polemic;  Tim- 
othy Sullins,  an  Israelite  without  guile,  simple-hearted, 
wise,  grand ;  and  Creed  Fulton,  the  apostle  and  pioneer 
of  Christian  education. 

From  the  Tennessee  Conference  there  was  Robert 
12 


178  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Paine,  a  Church  statesman,  Christian  educator,  McKen- 
dree's  biographer,  a  Bishop  who  Jilled  the  office;  Mc- 
Ferrin,  of  whom  inquire  in  these  pages;  Green,  a  Nes- 
tor in  council  and  a  Fabius  in  ecclesiastical  strategy; 
Pitts,  the  traditions  of  whose  extraordinary  eloquence 
will  linger  with  the  descendants  of  the  men  and  women 
who  heard  it  while  through  hill  and  valley  flow  the 
Waters  of  the  Tennessee  and  the  Cumberland;  Maddin, 
a  man  of  God,  beloved  of  men;  Ferguson,  a  straight- 
edged  Methodist,  able  to  lead,  and  leading  wisely;  and 
Andrews,  wise  and  good  and  strong. 

From  North  Carolina  there  was  Bryant,  whose  preach- 
ing was  high  Christian  thought  set  to  music;  Leigh,  a 
prince  in  the  pulpit,  a  weighty  man  in  Church  affairs, 
the  peer  of  Fisk  and  Olin,  and  like-minded;  Blake, 
sunny  and  saintly;  Carson,  a  mighty  evangelist  who 
won  many  souls  to  Christ;  and  Doub,  a  self-taught 
Apollos,  mighty  in  the  Scriptures. 

From  the  Memphis  Conference  there  was  Moses 
Brock,  a  rare  genius — weird,  wise,  unworldly,  given  al- 
ternately to  inspired  moods  and  eccentric  humors;  Har- 
ris, "  the  father  of  the  Conference,"  in  speech  classic, 
eloquent,  logical,  aglow  with  the  touch  of  the  live  coal 
from  the  divine  altar;  McMahon,  full  of  Methodist' 
fervor,  Irish  wit,  and  vigorous,  good  sense;  and  Joyner 
and  Davidson,  true  men  and  strong. 

From  Arkansas  there  was  Harrell,  the  pioneer  preach- 
er, unconsciously  heroic  and  grand;  and  Truslow  and 
Custer,  men  of  the  same  stamp. 

From  the  Virginia  Conference  there  was  John  Early, 
a  militant  saint  and  a  mighty  man  in  peace  or  war; 
Thomas  Crowder,  polished  as  a  courtier  and  pure  and 
unbending  as  a  Puritan;  William  A.  Smith,  leonine  of 


A  T  THE  L  O  UIS  VILLE  CON  VENT  I  ON.         179 

port,  invincible  in  logic,  a  gladiator  who  in  high  debate 
always  stood  unconquered  in  the  arena;  Abram  Penn, 
gifted  and  godly,  whose  early  death  cut  short  a  career 
that  would  have  carried  him  to  the  very  highest  honors 
the  Church  could  bestow;  Doggett,  styled  the  Cicero  of 
Southern  Methodism,  the  intellectual  fire  in  whose 
grand  discourses  kindled  into  a  still  brighter,  holier  flame 
when  the  Spirit  descended  upon  him  in  pentecostal 
power;  Cowles,  a  strong,  pure,  and  polished  minister  of 
Christ;  and  Dibrell,  grave  and  grand,  whose  preach- 
ing was  like  the  roll  of  Sinaitic  thunders. 

From  the  Mississippi  Conference  there  was  Camp- 
bell, a  man  who  knew  men  and  was  a  leader  of  men; 
Drake,  in  whom  genius  and  goodness  were  mingled 
like  the  veins  in  a  shaft  of  finest  variegated  marble; 
Watkins,  adorned  with  every  grace  of  manner  and  trait 
of  character  that  could  entitle  him  to  the  name  of  a 
Christian  gentleman,  eloquent  in  the  pulpit,  and  the  de- 
light of  every  social  circle;  Winans,  a  mighty  thinker 
and  a  master  of  assemblies,  a  profound  theologian  and 
a  wise  master-builder,  whose  name  Southern  Method- 
ists will  not  let  die ;  and  Jones,  clear-brained,  unselfish, 
observant,  reflective,  who  lived  to  be  the  historian  of 
Methodism  in  Mississippi  and  the  connecting  link  be- 
tween two  generations  of  Methodists. 

From  Texas  there  was  Robert  Alexander,  a  mighty 
man  of  valor  in  the  army  of  the  Lord,  in  physical  stat- 
ure a  head  and  shoulders  above  his  brethren,  a  leader 
born;  Fowler,  eloquent,  courageous,  and  steady;  and 
Wilson,  strong,  brave,  and  sharp-edged. 

From  Georgia  there  was  Lovick  Pierce,  who  ranked 
second  to  no  man  in  the  love  and  veneration  of  Amer- 
ican Methodists;  Evans,  a  mighter  singer,  a  Nehemiah 


180  JOHN  D.  McFERRIN. 

in  church-building,  a  revivalist  whose  many  converts 
recruited  the  Church  and  peopled  paradise;  Longstreet, 
theologian,  pedagogue,  jurist,  author,  a  marvel  of  ver- 
satility; Glenn,  personified  common  sense;  Anthony,  an 
Ironsides  modified  by  Methodism,  brave  as  Luther, 
spiritual  as  Fletcher ;  Isaac  Boring,  incisive,  large-brained, 
strong-willed;  Paine,  godly,  self-forgetting,  beloved  in 
Georgia  by  white  Methodists  and  black  ones;  and 
George  F.  Pierce,  the  Bishop  that  was  to  be,  then  a 
rising  star  whose  fame  now  fills  the  Church. 

From  the  Alabama  Conference  there  was  Jefferson 
Hamilton,  strong  in  the  pulpit,  strong  in  the  cabinet, 
strong  in  the  field,  strong  everywhere,  a  rounded  man, 
hoi}-  without  asceticism,  great  without  pretentiousness, 
humble  without  sanctimoniousness;  Jesse  Boring,  whose 
pulpit  oratory  reached  climaxes  of  almost  unexampled 
power,  splendidly  gifted  as  a  debater;  Thomas  H.  Ca- 
pers, a  man  of  rare  social  gifts  and  effective  popular  elo- 
quence; Thomas  O.  Summers,  encyclopedic  and  unique, 
just  rising  into  fame  and  entering  upon  his  remarkable 
career  as  an  editor,  theologian,  and  author;  and  Green- 
berry  Garrett,  a  man  of  large  brain  and  glowing  heart. 

From  South  Carolina  there  was  Capers,  the  future 
Bishop,  a  great  preacher,  founder  of  the  Methodist 
Missions  to  the  Negroes  in  the  South,  whose  fame  is  the 
common  heritage  of  all  Methodists ;  Wightman,  another 
Bishop  in  futuro,  pure,  broad,  and  strong,  highly  en- 
dowed and  highly  cultured;  Walker,  adorned  with  hu- 
mility, firm  of  purpose,  good  and  wise;  Dunwoody,  a 
rarely  eccentric  genius  whose  oddities  never  led  him  into 
sin  or  folly,  keen-sighted,  canny,  original,  trustworthy, 
a  man  of  one  Book,  and  a  man  of  might;  Bond  En- 
glish, sturdy,  saintly,  and  sure  at  all   times;  Whitefoord 


AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION.         181 

Smith,  a  brilliant  rhetorician  and  eloquent  preacher, 
with  the  heart  of  a  poet  and  the  tongue  of  an  orator; 
Boyd,  a  safe,  strong  man ;  and  Samuel  ~\V.  Capers,  wor- 
thy of  the  honored  name  he  bore. 

From  Florida  there  were  Smith  and  Benning,  stal- 
wart soldiers  fresh  from  the  field. 

The  sayings  and  doings  of  the  body  may  be  only 
glanced  at* here.  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  opened  its  deliber- 
ations by  reading  the  second  chapter  of  St.  Paul's  Epis- 
tle to  the  Philippians,  and  after  singing  the  hymn 
beginning,  "  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  heavenly  dove,"  he 
offered  a  most  fervent  prayer  for  the  blessing  of  God 
upon  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention.  The  Rev.  T. 
O.  Summers  was  elected  Secretary,  and  the  Rev.  T.N. 
Ralston  assistant.  Bishops  Soule  and  Andrew,  in  re- 
sponse to  a  resolution  of  the  body,  agreed  to  jDreside 
during  the  session — Bishop  Morris,  for  reasons  satisfac- 
tory to  himself  and  to  his  colleagues,  declining  so  to  do. 
Bishop  Soule,  on  taking  the  chair,  said: 

BISHOP  SOULE' S  REMARKS. 
I  rise  on  the  present  occasion  to  of'er  a  few  remarks  to  this 
Convention  of  ministers  under  the  influence  of  feelings  more  sol- 
emn and  impressive  than  I  recollect  ever  to  have  experienced  be- 
fore. The  occasion  is  certainly  one  of  no  ordinary  interest  and 
solemnity.  I  am  deeply  impressed  "with  a  conviction  of  the  im- 
portant results  of  your  deliberations  and  decisions  in  relation  to 
that  numerous  body  of  Christians  and  Christian  ministers  you 
here  represent,  and  to  the  country  at  large.  And  knowing  as  I  do 
the  relative  condition  of  the  vast  community  where  your  acts  must 
be  extensively  felt,  I  can  not  but  feel  a  deep  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Convention,  both  as  it  respects  yourselves  and  the 
millions  who  must  be  affected  by  your  decisions.  With  such 
views  and  feelings,  you  will  indulge  me  in  an  expression  of  confi- 
dent hope  that  all  your  business  will  be  conducted  with  the  greatest 
deliberation,  and  with  that  purity  of  heart  and  moderation  of  tern- 


182  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

per  suitable  to  yourselves,  as  a  body  of  Christian  ministers,  and  to 
the  important  concerns  which  have  called  you  together  in  this  city. 

The  opinion  which  I  formed  at  the  close  of  the  late  General 
Conference,  that  the  proceedings  of  that  body  would  result  in  a 
division  of  the  Church,  was  not  induced  by  the  impulse  of  excite- 
ment, but  was  predicated  of  principles  and  facts  after  the  most  de- 
liberate and  mature  consideration.  That  opinion  I  have  freely 
expressed.  And  however  deeply  I  have  regretted  such  a  result, 
believing  it  to  be  inevitable,  my  efforts  have  been  made,  not  to 
prevent  it,  but  rather  that  it  might  be  attended  with  the  least 
injury  and  the  greatest  amount  of  good  which  the  case  would 
admit.  I  was  not  alone  in  this  opinion.  A  number  of  aged  and 
influential  ministers  entertained  the  same  views.  And,  indeed,  it 
is  not  easy  to  conceive  how  any  one,  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  facts  in  the  case,  and  the  relative  position  of  the  North  and 
South,  could  arrive  at  any  other  conclusion.  Nothing  has  trans- 
pired since  the  close  of  the  General  Conference  to  change  the 
opinion  I  then  formed;  but  subsequent  events  have  rather  con- 
firmed it.  In  view  of  the  certainty  of  the  issue,  and  at  the  same 
time  ardently  desirous  that  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  Church 
might  be  in  peace  and  harmony  within  their  own  respective 
bounds,  and  cultivate  the  spirit  of  Christian  fellowship,  brotherly 
kindness,  and  charity  for  each  other,  I  can  not  but  consider  it  an 
auspicious  event  that  sixteen  Annual  Conferences,  represented  in 
this  Convention,  have  acted  with  such  extraordinary  unanimity  in 
the  measures  they  have  taken  in  the  premises.  In  the  Southern 
Conferences  which  I  have  attended  I  do  not  recollect  that  there 
has  been  a  dissenting  voice  with  respect  to  the  necessity  of  a  sepa- 
rate organization ;  and  although  their  official  acts  in  deciding  the 
important  question  have  been  marked  with  that  clearness  and  de- 
cision which  should  afford  satisfactory  evidence  that  they  have 
acted  under  a  solemn  conviction  of  duty  to  Christ  and  to  the  peo- 
ple of  their  charge,  they  have  been  equally  distinguished  by  mod- 
eration and  candor.  And,  as  far  as  I  have  been  informed,  all  the 
other  Conferences  have  pursued  a  similar  course. 

It  is  ardently  to  be  desired  that  the  same  unanimity  may  pre- 
vail in  the  counsels  of  this  Convention  as  distinguished,  in  such  a 
remarkable  manner,  the  views  and  deliberations  and  decisions  of 
vour  constituents.  When  it  is  recollected  that  it  is  not  only  for 
yourselves  and  the  present  ministry  and  membership  of  the  Con- 


A  T  THE  L  O  UIS  VILLE  CON  VENT  I  ON.        183 

ferences  you  represent  that  you  are  assembled  on  this  occasion, 
but  that  millions  of  the  present  race,  and  generations  yet  unborn, 
may  be  affected  in  their  most  essential  interest  by  the  results  of 
your  deliberations,  it  will  occur  to  you  how  important  it  is  that 
you  should  "  do  all  things  as  in  the  immediate  presence  of  God." 
Let  all  your  acts,  dear  brethren,  be  accompanied  with  much  prayer 
for  that  'wisdom  which  is  from  above. 

While  you  are  thus  impressed  with  the  importance  and  solem- 
nity of  the  subject  which  has  occasioned  the  Convention,  and  of 
the  high  responsibility  under  which  you  act,  I  am  confident  you 
will  cultivate  the  spirit  of  Christian  moderation  and  forbearance; 
and  that  in  all  your  acts  you  will  keep  strictly  within  the  limits 
and  provisions  of  the  "  Plan  of  Separation  "  adopted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  with  great  unanimity  and  apparent  Christian 
kindness.  I  can  have  no  doubt  of  the  firm  adherence  of  the  min- 
isters and  members  of  the  Church  in  the  Conferences  you  repre- 
sent to  the  doctrines,  rules,  order  of  government,  and  forms  of 
worship  contained  in  our  excellent  Book  of  Discipline.  For  my- 
self, I  stand  upon  the  basis  of  Methodism  as  contained  in  this 
book,  and  from  it  I  intend  never  to  be  removed.  I  can  not  be  in- 
sensible to  the  expression  of  your  confidence  in  the  resolution 
you  have  unanimously  adopted,  requesting  me  to  preside  over  the 
Convention  in  conjunction  with  my  colleagues.  And  after  having 
weighed  the  subject  with  careful  deliberation,  I  have  resolved  to 
accept  your  invitation  and  discharge  the  duties  of  the  important 
trust  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  My  excellent  colleague,  Bishop 
Andrew,  is  of  the  same  mind,  and  will  cordially  participate  in  the 
duties  of  the  chair. 

I  am  requested  to  state  to  the  Convention  that  our  worthy  and 
excellent  colleague,  Bishop  Morris,  believes  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
decline  a  participation  in  the  presidential  duties.  He  assigns  such 
reasons  for  so  doing  as  are,  in  the  judgment  of  his  colleagues, 
perfectly  satisfactory,  and  it  is  presumed  they  would  be  considered 
in  the  same  light  by  the  Convention.  In  conclusion,  I  trust  that 
all  things  will  be  done  in  that  spirit  which  will  be  approved  of 
God,  and  devoutly  pray  that  your  acts  may  result  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  and  the  salvation  of  the  souls 
of  men. 

The  organization  of  the  body  for  business  was  effect- 


184  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

ed,  and  after  feeling  their  way  carefully  at  every  step, 
the  great  question  of  separation  was  taken  up.  Mc- 
Ferrin  was  one  of  the  working  members  of  the  Con- 
vention. He  and  the  Revs.  Leroy  M.  Lee  and  William 
M.  Wightman  were  appointed  a  committee  to  report 
the  proceedings—"  a  very  onerous  and  responsible  posi- 
tion," he  said;  but  his  co-workers  were,  like  himself,  dil- 
igent, and  their  work  was  fairly  done.  Their  reports 
were  published  in  the  secular  papers  of  Louisville  and 
copied  into  the  Church  papers.  There  was  some  com- 
plaint that  the  reports  made  of  the  speeches  were  not 
full  enough.  McFerrin  replied  on  the  floor  of  the  Con- 
vention that  the  resolution  under  which  the  committee 
on  the  publication  of  the  proceedings  acted  only  re- 
quired a  synopsis  thereof;  that,  if  members  wanted 
their  speeches  published  in  full,  they  must  write  them 
out  and  pay  for  printing  them;  and  then  playfully 
threatened  that  if  the  brethren  insisted  on  having  their 
speeches  reported  at  length,  he  "  would  try  to  give  them 
— rheto7'ic  and  all!''''  The  hit  doubtless  produced  its 
intended  effect.  On  May  5  Dr.  Winans  made  a  great 
speech  on  his  resolution  instructing  the  Committee  on 
Organization  "to  inquire  whether  or  not  any  thing  has 
transpired  during  the  past  year  to  render  it  possible  to 
maintain  the  unity  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
under  the  same  General  Conference  jurisdiction  with- 
out the  ruin  of  Southern  Methodism."  The  key-note  of 
this  remarkable  speech,  and  of  the  whole  Convention 
as  well,  wras  given  in  this  opening  sentence:  "Only  ne- 
cessity can  justify  the  meeting  of  this  Convention;  ex- 
pediency could  not."  This  strong  statement  was  then 
made  by  this  strong  man:  "Lie  said  that  slavery  was 
so  interwoven  with  the  texture  of  Southern  society  that 


AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION.         185 


it  was  impossible  for  any  one  to  disentangle  it,  nor  can 
any  religious  society  avoid,  if  it  would,  connection  with 
this  institution.      It  is  also  true  that  public  opinion  rallies 
around  this  institution  with  great  jealousy ;  and  he  who 
comes  to  the  South,  or  lives  in  the  slave-holding  States, 
and  arrays  himself  against  slavery,  disqualifies  himself 
from     exercising     any     influence    whatever.     He    who 
would    oppose    slavery  can    have    no   influence   in    the 
South,  civilly,  politically,  or  ecclesiastically."     And  yet 
it  had   been  but   little  more  than   a  decade  previous  to 
this  time  since  Virginia  and  Kentucky  had  both  taken 
tentative  steps  looking  to  the  abolition  of  slavery.      The 
extraordinary  change  that  had  taken  place  was  due  to 
the  passions  that  had  been  evoked  by  the  agitation  that 
had     in     the     meantime    prevailed.     Dr.    Winans    saw 
clearly  what  was  plain  enough   to  all  after   the  event. 
"He  said  that  the  North  would  never  rest  until  slavery 
was  driven    from    the   Church,   if  the  union   be    main- 
tained.     But,"    he    continued,  "we  are   admonished    to 
pause.      I  would  ask,  For  what?      I  can  see  no  prospect 
of  a  retraction  upon  the  part  of  the  North."     And  then 
he  exclaimed  passionately:  "I  would  be  willing  to  wait 
twenty  years,  to  lie  down  in  my  grave,  if  I  could  be- 
lieve that  finally  the  difficulty  could  be  amicably  settled!" 
Nobody  who  knew  the  great-brained,  high-souled  Wi- 
nans could  doubt  that  he  spoke  truly.     And  he  voiced 
the  conviction  and   feeling  of  the  Convention.     While 
this   conviction   of   the   necessity  of  separation  was  un- 
doubtingly  held  by  them,  their  reluctance  to  taking  the 
final  plunge  expressed  itself  in  this  resolution  offered  by 
Dr.  Drake,  of  Mississippi:  "Resolved,  That  the  Com- 
mittee   on    Organization    be,   and    they  are  hereby,  in- 
structed to  inquire  into  the  propriety  of  reporting  reso- 


186  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

lutions,  in  case  a  division  should  take  place,  leaving  the 
way  open  for  reunion  on  terms  which  shall  not  compro- 
mise the  interests  of  the  Southern,  and  which  shall  meet 
as  far  as  may  be  the  views  of  the  Northern,  portion  of 
the  Church."     This  was  also  adopted. 

Then  this  resolution  was  offered  by  Dr.  William  A. 
Smith,  of  Virginia:  "Resolved,  by  the  delegates  of  the 
several  Annual  Conferences  in  the  Southern  and  South- 
western States,  in  General  Convention  assembled, 
That  we  can  not  sanction  the  action  of  the  late  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  on  the 
subject  of  slavery,  by  remaining  under  the  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  of  this  body  without  deep  and  lasting  injury 
to  the  interests  of  the  Church  and  the  country;  we 
therefore  hereby  instruct  the  Committee  on  Organiza- 
tion that,  if,  upon  a  careful  examination  of  the  whole 
subject,  they  find  that  there  is  no  reasonable  ground  to 
hope  that  the  Northern  majority  will  recede  from  their 
position,  and  give  some  safe  guarantee  for  the  future  se- 
curity of  our  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rights,  they  report 
in  favor  of  a  separation  from  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  said  General  Conference." 

Of  Dr.  Smith's  able  speech  of  two  hours'  length  only 
this  one  point  is  given  here:  "  The  General  Conference," 
he  said,  "  had  ceased  to  exert  a  conservative  influence 
upon  the  political  union.  The  South  could  not  remain 
in  the  Connection  without  promoting  the  agitation  and 
excitement  of  the  whole  country  upon  the  subject  of 
slavery.  To  keep  up  this  state  of  things  would  soon 
dissolve  our  political  union.  Our  separation,  therefore, 
is  highly  important  to  the  union  of  these  States."  That 
was  a  plausible  paradox  from  his  point  of  view;  eccle- 
siastical separation  was  necessary  to  political  union! 


A  T  THE  L  O  UIS  VILLE  C  ON  VENT  ION.         187 

Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  said  no  Church  ever  provided 
any  law  for  a  prospective  division;  that  the  only  law 
that  could  justify  a  Church  in  dividing  into  two  ecclesi- 
astical jurisdictions  was  necessity.  This  law,  he  con- 
tended, existed  in  the  present  controversy,  in  that  we 
had  reached  a  point  where  such  legislation  as  would 
save  the  North  would  ruin  the  South,  and  such  as  would 
save  the  South  would  ruin  the  North. 

In  these  words  the  great  Georgia  preacher  formulated 
the  statement  which  will  be  accepted  as  the  judgment 
of  posterity. 

Dr.  William  Capers,  "  in  a  few  able  and  eloquent  re- 
marks, advocated  the  resolution,  and  set  forth  with  great 
earnestness  the  absolute,  undeniable,  irreversible  necessity 
of  an  independent  organization." 

Then  spoke  George  F.  Pierce,  who  was  in  the  blos- 
soming-time of  his  genius  and  fame.  He  was  bold, 
rhetorical,  fiery,  urging  that  separation,  or  independence, 
as  he  called  it,  was  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Negro  missions.  "Are  those  missions,"  he  demanded, 
"  which,  like  green  spots  in  the  wilderness,  dot  the  face 
of  those  sunny  lands,  to  be  swept  with  ruin  ? "  He  had 
no  prejudice  against  the  North;  but  whether  there  be 
peace  or  war  as  to  the  principles  of  the  government, 
powers  of  the  episcopacy,  and  the  like,  he  could  never 
stand  by  and  see  the  spiritual  prospects  of  the  Negro  in 
the  South  put  in  jeopardy.  He  longed  to  see  the  day 
when  Methodism,  precious  and  blessed,  should  in  the 
Southern  country  rise  in  the  majesty  of  her  strength 
and  the  tenderness  of  her  love,  and  move  abroad,  un- 
trammeled  and  free,  in  her  godlike  work  of  blessing 
and  saving  the  souls  of  men  of  all  conditions  and  in  all 
circumstances  of  human  life.     He  besought  the  Conven- 


188  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

tion  to  interpose  no  let  or  barrier  to  her  progress,  but 
give  free  scope  to  her  energies,  that  in  her  errands  of 
love  and  compassion  she  might  go  to  the  bedside  of  the 
dying  Negro  and  point  his  fading  eye  to  the  brightening 
glories  of  the  cross  and  the  immortality  beyond. 

Dr.  Longstreet  traversed  the  whole  ground  of  contro- 
versy in  a  masterly  legal  argument,  emphasizing  the  view 
that,  instead  of  weakening  the  union  of  the  States,  the 
proposed  "  separation  of  the  Church  government"  would 
strengthen  it.  Inclosing,  he  apostrophized  Methodism  in 
away  that  struck  a  responsive  chord  in  that  body  of  Meth- 
odist preachers:  "Let  us,  with  our  new  organization, 
try  to  get  back  to  primitive  Methodism.  I  speak  not  of 
its  externals,  some  of  which  never  legitimately  belonged 
to  it,  but  of  its  inward  graces.  I  speak  of  its  former 
zeal,  which  glowed  with  equal  fervor  amidst  the  miasm 
of  the  lowland  swamps  and  the  healthy  breezes  of  the 
mountains,  which  led  the  Methodist  preacher  to  seek  the 
lost  sheep  of  the  fold  of  Christ  whithersoever  they  wan- 
dered. I  speak  of  that  Methodism  that  preached  not 
only  on  stated  days  and  at  stated  times,  but  which 
preached  at  all  times  and  in  all  places — in  the  chapel, 
the  hut,  the  kitchen,  the  grove,  the  wilderness — to  fa- 
thers, mothers,  husbands,  wives,  parents,  children,  -mas- 
ters, servants;  which  never  entered  a  house  without  a 
word  for  the  Lord,  and  never  left  it  without  praying  a 
blessing  upon  it;  which  planted  the  standard  of  the 
cross  on  the  spot  which  we  occupy  ere  the  elk  and  the 
buffalo  had  left  it;  which  pushed  on  its  labors  until  at 
times  exhausted  nature  sunk  under  them.  When  I  thus 
speak  of  Methodism  let  me  not  be  understood  as  claim- 
ing for  our  sect  all  the  religion  there  is  in  the  world. 
Far    from    it;    there    is  as    pure    religion    in    the  other 


A  T  THE  L O  UIS  VI L LE  CON V.ENTION.         189 

Churches  as  in  ours.  I  am  no  sectarian.  If  I  possess 
one  Christian  virtue,  it  is  love  for  all  that  love  and  serve 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  but  I  confess  I  feel  a  kindling 
emotion,  allied  to  the  moral  sublime,  when  I  contem- 
plate Methodism,  personified  in  such  men  as  our  Nolly, 
whose  funeral  obsequies  were  performed  by  himself, 
whose  dirge  was  sounded  by  the  winter  winds,  whose 
winding-sheet  was  the  snow-drift,  and  whose  monument 
was  the  sturdy  oak  of  the  forest — found  by  the  woods- 
man frozen  on  his  knees,  and  buried  in  the  attitude  of 
prayer.  Of  myself  I  will  not  glory,  of  my  Church  I 
will  not  glory;  but  of  such  as  these  I  might  become  a 
fool  in  glorying,  and  all  Christians  would  pardon  me,  if 
not  join  me." 

Dr.  Paine  reviewed  the  situation  in  a  calm,  cogent, 
candid  way ;  and  "  sat  down  amidst  loud  cheering  from 
every  part  of  the  assembly."  It  is  amusing  to  notice 
that  he  defended  his  friend,  Dr.  Bascom,  from  the  charge 
of  "radicalism,"  and  retorted  on  his  assailant,  Dr.  Bond, 
by  charging  that  his  (Bond's)  name  stood  "appended 
to  a  petition  to  the  General  Conference  of  1S24  for  lay 
delegation  !  "  These  golden  sentences  closed  his  speech  • 
"  Methodism  claims,  and  actually  does  possess,  a  self- 
adjusting  energy.  It  adapts  its  economical  rules  and 
jurisdictional  principles  to  the  world  as  it  finds  it.  It 
exists  in  monarchical  governments,  it  is  found  in  repub- 
lics, it  makes  its  lodgment  in  every  latitude,  in  every  zone ; 
and  everywhere  it  is  the  conservator  of  existing  law,  of 
order,  of  public  peace.  It  is  no  friend  of  discord ;  but  it 
goes  forth  to  soothe  the  sorrows  it  can  not  prevent,  to 
alleviate  the  burdens  it  can  not  remove,  to  gild  the  dying 
hours  of  the  poor  sufferer  in  life's  pilgrimage,  and  to 
point  his  closing  eye  to  the  glories  of  immortality.'' 


190  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

II.  II.  Kavanaugh,  of  Kentucky,  said  epigrarnmat- 
ically  that  he  and  the  border  Conferences  went  with  the 
South  because  the  South  went  with  the  Discipline,  and 
argued  with  great  force  to  sustain  that  declaration.  Ad- 
dressing himself  to  his  Southern  brethren,  in  conclusion, 
he  said:  "While  you  maintain  principle  I  will  be  found 
in  your  ranks;  your  people  shall  be  my  people;  where 
you  go  I  will  go;  where  you  die  I  will  die;  with  you  I 
will  be  buried,  and  with  you  I  will  rise  in  the  morning 
of  the  great  day,  when  truth  and  purity  will  meet  their 
just  reward." 

F.  E.  Pitts,  of  Tennessee,  spoke  "with  force  and 
pathos,"  closing  with  a  declaration  of  his  firm  purpose 
"to  adhere  to  true  Methodism  as  set  forth  in  the  Disci- 
pline and  maintained  by  the  Church  in  the  South." 

Moses  Brock,  of  the  Memphis  Conference,  said  he 
represented  "  a  border  Conference,  bounded  on  the  north 
by  the  Ohio  River,  extending  down  the  Mississippi 
River  five  hundred  miles  or  more,  including  a  fine  coun- 
try, chivalrous  people,  many  Christians,  and  a  great 
many  Negroes" — a  climax  or  anti-climax — which  did  he 
intend? 

William  McMahon  said  he  had  been  listening  three 
days  longer  than  Job's  friends  held  their  peace,  but  now, 
he  supposed,  he  must  open  his  mouth.  The  reporter  said : 
"  He  was  so  rapid  in  his  flights  of  eloquence  that  I  could 
not  keep  pace  with  him.  His  speech  produced  much 
merriment  and  applause." 

Joseph  Boyle,  of  Missouri,  said  that  he  had  come  to 
the  Convention  with  cherished  imj^ressions  that  a  sepa- 
ration was  not  necessary,  but  since  he  had  witnessed  the 
discussions,  and  heard  the  representations  of  the  brethren 
from  all  parts  of  the  South,  he  was  fully  satisfied  that 


AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION.         191 

the  separation  was  inevitable.  lie  should  therefore  vote 
for  the  resolution,  and  felt  it  due  to  himself  to  make  this 
avowal,  believing  that  it  was  understood  by  the  delega- 
tion from  Missouri  that  though  the  necessity  with  them 
might  not  be  so  imperious,  yet,  making  common  cause 
with  the  South,  it  was  the  interest  and  duty  of  Missouri 
to  go  into  the  Southern  organization. 

When  the  vote  was  taken  on  the  resolution  setting  up 
the  new  Church  organization,  it  was  adopted  by  293 
ayes  to  3  noes.  That  it  may  be  j^reserved  in  this  con- 
nection it  is  herewith  inserted: 

"Be  it  resolved  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual 
Conference's  of  the  JMethodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  slave-holding  States,  in  General  Convention  as- 
sembled, That  it  is  right,  expedient,  and  necessary  to 
erect  the  Annual  Conferences  represented  in  this  Con- 
vention into  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  Connection,  separate 
from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  as  at  present  constituted; 
and  accordingly  we,  the  delegates  of  said  Annual  Con- 
ferences, acting  under  the  provisional  Plan  of  Separation 
adopted  by  the  General  Conference  of  TS44,  do  solemnly 
declare  the  jurisdiction  hitherto  exercised  over  said  An- 
nual Conferences  by  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  entirely  dissolved/  and 
that  said  Annual  Conferences  shall  be,  and  they  hereby 
are,  constituted  a  separate  ecclesiastical  Connection, 
under  the  provisional  Plan  of  Separation  aforesaid,  and 
based  upon  the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  comprehending  the  doctrines  and  entire  moral, 
ecclesiastical,  and  economical  rules  and  regulations  of 
said  Discipline,  except  only  in  so  far  as  verbal  alterations 
may  be  necessary  to   a  distinct  organization,  and  to  be 


192  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

known  by  the  style  and  title  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South." 

McFerrin  was  also  made  chairman  of  a  committee  to 
prepare  and  publish  a  history  of  the  organization  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  It  was  published 
'at  the  office  of  the  South-western  Christian  Advocate, 
the  Rev.  Moses  Henkle,  D.D.,  performing  much  of  the 
literary  labor  of  the  publication.  It  was  considered  an 
important  work,  and  was  the  text-book  of  subsequent 
publications  relative  to  the  separation  of  the  Methodist 
Ej^iscopal  Church  and  the  organization  of  the  Southern 
branch  thereof. 

The  Convention  appointed  McFerrin,  in  connection 
with  the  Rev.  John  Early,  an  agent  to  receive  proposi- 
tions for  the  location  of  a  Book  Concern,  or  Publishing 
House,  to  report  to  the  first  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South. 

This  sort  of  service  indicated  the  estimate  placed  upon 
McFerrin  as  an  able  and  willing  worker.  It  was  un- 
derstood that  he  was  almost  incapable  of  fatigue;  that 
he  knew  the  value  of  accuracy  in  details;  that  he  was 
prompt,  and  had  the  art  of  making  others  so;  that  his 
judgment,  conscience,  and  tact  could  be  trusted  in  money 
matters;  and  that  no  personal  interest  or  side  issue 
would  be  allowed  to  divert  him  from  the  work  of  the 
Church.  The  only  danger  of  such  diversion  of  his 
time  and  energies  grew  out  of  his  readiness  to  accept  a 
challenge  from  some  enemy  of  Methodism  who  wanted 
to  fight,  or  to  run  off  to  a  distant  Annual  Conference  in 
search  of  subscribers  and  good-will  for  his  paper.  But 
not  even  his  relish  for  polemics,  or  his  editorial  ardor, 
could  tempt  him  to  neglect  any  work  he  had  consented 
to  do.     Absolute  fidelity  was  his  purpose  and  his  practice. 


AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION.         193 

The  sectional  conflict  was  renewed  with  fresh  vigor 
and  prosecuted  with  great  heat  after  the  adjournment 
of  the  Louisville  Convention.  The  New  York  and 
Cincinnati  organs  opened  their  batteries  upon  the  new 
organization.  The  Church  property  question  intensified 
the  feeling  of  the  opposing  parties.  McFerrin  was 
still  in  charge  of  the  South-weste?'n  Advocate,  both  as 
editor  and  financial  manager.  Shot  for  shot,  he  returned 
the  fire  of  the  big  guns  at  New  York  and  Cincinnati. 
At  the  request  of  the  Kentucky  Conference  Dr.  Henkle 
was  appointed  assistant  editor.  He  entered  upon  his 
duties  in  the  autumn  of  1S45,  and  continued  in  that  re- 
lation several  years.  Of  him  and  his  work  McFerrin 
says:  "He  was  an  able  writer  and  a  man  of  extensive 
information  and  much  experience.  His  connection  with 
me  as  assistant  editor  was  very  pleasant.  We  harmo- 
nized in  our  work,  and  he  rendered  much  valuable  serv- 
ice." This  co-editorship  was  a  fit.  McFerrin  was  pug- 
nacious, Henkle  was  cautious;  McFerrin  had  a  special 
turn  for  business,  Henkle  for  books;  McFerrin  liked  to 
travel,  and  had  a  genius  for  the  platform,  while  Henkle 
liked  the  quiet  of  the  sanctu?n,  and  would  rather  write 
than  make  speeches;  McFerrin  looked  to  the  subscrip- 
tion-list and  the  cash  account,  Henkle  never  tired  of  the 
pen,  the  scissors,  and  proof-reading.  They  were  hajD- 
pily  complementary  to  each  other. 

Soon  after  Dr.  Henkle's  arrival  in  Nashville,  and  as- 
sumption of  his  editorial  duties,  McFerrin  was  again  on 
the  wing,  visiting  several  Annual  Conferences,  preach- 
ing as  he  went,  flashing  forth  his  wit  and  pathos  from 
the  platform,  of  which  neither  his  hearers  nor  himself 
ever  tired,  and  extending  the  circulation  of  his  paper. 
In  Kentucky  and  Missouri  particularly  his  visits  were 
13 


194  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


beneficial  to  the  publishing  interests  he  represented  and 
to  the  Church,  in  the  midst  of  the  prevalent  excite- 
ment. His  eloquence  was  inspiring  and  his  courage  was 
contagious.  He  confirmed  the  faithful  and  encouraged 
the  faint-hearted.  The  very  presence  of  the  athletic, 
bold,  buoyant  editor  of  the  Church  organ  acted  as  a 
tonic  to  weak  nerves  and  feeble  faith.  When  he  spoke, 
doubt  was  dissipated,  fears  vanished.  He  had  superflu- 
ous energy  enough  to  put  a  whole  regiment  of  lymphatic 
idlers  in  motion ;  audacity  enough  to  say  what  he  pleased, 
with  good  judgment  that  tempered  and  kept  it  from 
harming  him  or  his  cause;  enthusiasm  that  swept  every 
thing  before  him ;  and  tact  that  turned  every  incident 
and  accident  to  advantage. 

The  conflict  was  very  fierce  along  the  Ohio  River, 
and  it  was  judged  important  by  the  brethren  of  Ken- 
tucky that  they  should  have  a  paper  on  their  border. 
This  was  attempted  in  Cincinnati  and  Louisville,  but  re- 
sulted in  pecuniary  loss.  The  principal  management  of 
this  paper  devolved  on  PI.  H.  Kavanaugh,  D.D.  (after- 
ward Bishop),  and  Dr.  S.  A.  Latta.  Kavanaugh  was  a 
great  preacher,  and  Latta's  "  Chain  of  Sacred  Wonders" 
— a  book  that  enjoyed  a  considerable  popularity  in  its 
day — showed  that  he  was  fluent  and  fervent  with  the 
pen.  But  neither  of  them  seemed  to  have  any  provi- 
dential call  (if  they  had  the  gifts)  for  editing  and  pub- 
lishing newspapers.  Their  venture  in  that  line  soon 
failed,  and  the  South-western  Christian  Advocate  kept 
the  field  and  magnified  its  office  as  the  exponent  of  the 
principles  of  the  Southern  Church  and  its  able  and  fear- 
less defender  along  the  border.  A  defender  it  was,  but 
with  McFerrin  as  its  inspiring  genius  its  methods  of  de- 
fense were  often  very  aggressive.     Xo  man  understood 


AT  THE  LOUISVILLE  CONVENTION.         195 

better  or  acted  more  continually  upon  the  military  axiom 
that  the  attacking  force  is  most  likely  to  win  the  battle. 
The  momentum  of  assault  counts.  He  always  persuaded 
himself  that  he  was  not  the  aggressor,  but  after  the  fight 
begun  he  pressed  his  foe  at  every  point.  His  grief  at 
parting  with  his  brethren  of  the  North,  whom  he.  sin- 
cerely loved,  and  for  the  necessity  laid  upon  him  to  take 
a  position  at  the  front  in  the  fight  against  them,  was 
largely  compensated  by  the  pleasure  he  enjoyed  in  a 
tournament  with  a  foe  worthy  of  his  steel.  He  wras  a 
sort  of  clerical  Cceur  de  Leon  who,  being  always  ready 
for  a  fight,  found  a  fight  always  waiting  for  him  some- 
where. 


EDITING,  FINANCIERING,  FIGHTING. 


THE  Tennessee  Conference  met  at  Huntsville,  Ala- 
bama, October  22,  1845.  By  episcopal  appoint- 
ment A.  L.  P.  Green  presided.  Delegates  were  elected 
to  the  first  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South,  to  convene  at  Petersburg,  Vir- 
ginia, May  1,  1S46.  They  were:  J.  B.  McFerrin,  Rob- 
ert Paine,  F.  E.  Pitts,  A.  L.  P.  Green,  J.  W.  Hanner,  A. 
F.  Driskill,  E.  W.  Sehon,  S.  S.  Moody,  and  F.  G.  Fer- 
guson. Dr.  Sehon  had  belonged  to  the  Ohio  Confer- 
ence, but  because  of  the  action  of  that  body  in  reference 
to  Bishop  Soule  and  the  Southern  Conferences  he, 
with  Dr.  S.  A.  Latta  and  G.  W.  Maley,  "adhered 
South,"  and  were  received  into  the  Tennessee  Confer- 
ence. Dr.  Sehon  was  complimented  with  a  seat  in  the 
General  Conference,  and  all  three  were  transferred  to 
the  Kentucky  Conference.  This  was  gracefully  done. 
The  Tennessee  preachers  withheld  what  has  ever  been 
considered  a  high  honor  from  one  of  a  number  of  strong, 
good  men  of  their  own  body,  that  this  stranger  from 
Ohio  should  have  brotherly  recognition  among  them. 
Sehon  was  a  courtly,  sunny-faced,  sunny-souled  Christian 
gentleman,  with  the  mien  and  bearing  of  a  prince  and 
the  glowing  soul  of  a  Methodist  preacher,  whose  pres- 
ence gave  a  new  charm  to  every  pleasant  circle  he 
entered  and  brought  comfort  to  every  sorrowful  home 
and  heart  with  which  he  came  in  contact  during  the 
long  and  useful  years  of  his  life  in  Kentucky  To 
(196) 


EDITING,  FINANCIERING,  FIGHTING.         197 

those  who  knew  him  the  sight  of  his  name  on  this 
page  will  illuminate  it  like  a  sunbeam.  He  was  raised 
to  high  honor  in  the  Church  to  which  he  came,  con- 
strained by  principle,  and  amid  the  asperities  of  those 
stormy  days  he  was  the  one  man  against  whom  malev- 
olence itself  brought  no  accusation,  and  in  whose  pres- 
ence no  bitter  feeling  could  live. 

McFerrin  was  soon  on  the  wing  again.  If  he  liked 
to  travel  and  preach  and  thunder  on  the  platform,  and 
canvass  for  his  paper,  he  was  surely  a  happy  man;  if 
he  did  all  this  from  a  sense  of  duty,  he  was  surely  a 
faithful  one.  Early  in  the  year  1846  he  visited  the 
South,  and  attended  the  Alabama  Conference,  rousing 
the  Alabamians  by  his  remarkable  sermons,  his  inimita- 
ble Conference  talks,  and  his  platform  speeches  that  cap- 
tivated the  masses,  excited  the  wonder  of  the  wise,  and 
brought  showers  of  dollars  into  the  treasury  of  the 
Church.  He  had  become  well  known  throughout  the 
the  South  and  South-west;  his  coming  was  looked  for 
with  interest,  and  his  presence  was  like  a  breath  of 
highly  oxygenated  air.  When  it  was  announced  that  he 
was  to  preach  the  people  crowded  to  hear  him;  if  he 
rose  to  speak  on  the  Conference  floor,  the  brethren 
leaned  back  in  their  seats  with  expectant  faces,  expect- 
ing that  he  would  say  something  to  think,  laugh,  and 
perhaps  cry  over,  before  he  got  through. 

With  Green,  Pitts,  and  Hanner,  on  April  15,  1846, 
he  started  to  Petersburg,  Virginia,  the  seat  of  the  first 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  They  chose  a  roundabout  way  to  get  there. 
They  took  passage  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River 
on  the  "  Sligo,"  a  pleasant  little  steamer;  from  thence 
to   Louisville,    Kentucky,  in   time  to  take  part    in  the 


198  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

first  anniversary  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  The  Rev.  John 
Lane,  of  Mississippi,  conducted  the  opening  religious 
services,  and  Green  and  McFerrin  made  the  addresses. 
The  Rev.  Edward  Stevenson,  Corresponding  Secretary, 
read  an  abstract  of  the  annual  report  of  the  Board  of 
Managers,  the  first  of  the  new  organization — the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South.  This  report  was  very 
gratifying  to  McFerrin.  "  More  than  sixty-seven 
thousand  dollars,"  he  wrote  exultingly,  "has  been 
contributed  during  the  past  year  in  aid  of  the  glorious 
enterprise  of  evangelizing  the  world;  all  the  drafts  in 
favor  of  the  Missions  will  be  promptly  honored;  and 
thus  the  experiment  has  fully  proved  that  the  South  can 
and  will  sustain  the  cause  of  Missions,  and  will  take  a 
conspicuous  place  among  her  sister  Churches  in  send- 
ing the  gospel  to  the  poor." 

He  made  a  note  of  the  fact  that  on  the  Ripley  Circuit, 
Kanawha  District,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Black  and  his  peo- 
ple adhered  South,  and  was  happy  to  say  that  the  South- 
ern cause  wras  prospering  on  the  border. 

At  Louisville  they  changed  boats,  and  passing  Cin- 
cinnati, McFerrin  and  Hanner  went  to  Maysville  with 
the  Rev.  W.  M.  Grubbs  and  Dr.  Adamson,  a  noble  lay- 
man, who  continued  to  be  McFerrin's  life-long  friend, 
who  desired  them  to  spend  the  Sabbath-day  in  that  place. 
Here  they  were  the  guests  of  Col.  Respass,  a  worthy 
citizen,  a  respectable  lawyer,  and  a  Methodist,  in  whose 
house  Dr.  Hanner  became  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Cole- 
man, the  widowed  daughter  of  their  host.  This  lady 
afterward  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  Hanner.  On  Mon- 
day they  rejoined  their  brother  delegates,  and  reaching 
Wheeling,  they  took  stage-coach  for  Cumberland,  Mary - 
J 


EDITING,  FINANCIERING,  FIGHTING.        199 

land;  here  they  took  the  railroad  train  for  Baltimore, 
where  they  had  a  cordial  reception,  and  McFerrin  made 
one  of  his  rousing  missionary  speeches.  Then  they 
went  on  to  Washington,  where  they  visited  their  fellow - 
Tennessean,  President  Polk;  and  thence  via  Richmond 
to  Petersburg.  A  trip  to  Europe  would  now  be  a 
smaller  matter  than  that  journey  from  Nashville  to  Pe- 
tersburg. The  world  shrinks  as  the  Church  of  God 
enlarges  in  its  resources  and  aims. 

The  General  Conference  was  composed  largely  of  the 
men  who  had  the  year  before  met  in  convention  at  Lou- 
isville. Among  the  new  men,  however,  there  were 
several  of  notable  character:  From  Kentucky,  C.  B. 
Parsons,  an  elocutionist  of  magnetic  quality,  who  could 
make  even  commonplaces  seem  lofty,  and  who  was 
immensely  popular  in  his  day;  Jonathan  Stamper,  a 
man  of  uncommon  logical  force  and  master  of  a 
ready  wit  that  served  him  well  on  occasion;  N.  B. 
Lewis,  a  noble  type  of  a  Methodist  preacher  be- 
longing to  a  family  of  preachers.  From  Holston  there 
were  Elbert  F.  Sevier  and  D.  Fleming,  strong,  good 
men.  From  the  Memphis  Conference  there  was  Will- 
iam M.  McFerrin,  brother  of  the  subject  of  these 
chapters — a  solid,  plain  man  of  hard,  good  sense  and 
deep  piety ;  and  John  T.  Baskerville,  a  man  of  strong 
and  noble  character  and  cultured  mind.  From  South 
Carolina  there  were  Charles  Betts  and  Nicholas  Talley, 
men  of  fervent  zeal  for  God  and  of  great  weight  of 
character  in  that  Conference.  From  Georgia  there  was 
William  A.  Parks,  who  was  devout  toward  God  as  he 
was  unbending  toward  men,  a  Regulus  in  courage  and 
a  Bernard  in  devotion.  From  Alabama  there  was  the 
ornate  and  polished  E.  V.  Le  Vert.     From  the  Arkan- 


200  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

sas  Conference  there  was  W.  P.  Ratcliffe,  whose  strong, 
symmetrical,  handsome  physique  was  a  fit  vehicle  for 
his  well-balanced  mind  and  noble  spirit.  Among  the 
reserves  were  some  of  the  coming  men  of  the  Church, 
whose  names  were  very  familiar  afterward:  G.  W. 
Langhorne,  D.  S.  Doggett,  of  Virginia;  James  Reid, 
of  North  Carolina;  Alexander  Means  and  J.  W.  Talley, 
of  Georgia;  William  Murrah  and  A.  H.  Mitchell,  of 
Alabama. 

With  what  wisdom  and  grace  Bishops  Soule  and  An- 
drew presided  over  the  body;  how  grandly  and  gra- 
ciously Bishop  Soule  announced  his  adhesion  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  the  profound 
effect  produced  thereby;  how  the  questions  of  a  hymnal 
and  a  publishing  house  were  debated;  how  William  Ca- 
pers and  Robert  Paine  were  elected  Bishops,  making, 
w;th  the  two  former  ones,  a  quartet  not  surpassed  in 
the  real  elements  of  goodness  and  greatness;  how  pro- 
vision was  made  for  a  Quarterly  Review,  and  Dr.  Bas- 
com  was  made  its  editor ;  how  book  depositories  were  locat- 
ed at  Richmond  and  Louisville;  how  John  B.  McFerrin 
and  Moses  M.  Henkle  were  elected  editors  of  the  Nash- 
ville Christian  Advocate,  William  M.  Wightman  and 
Thomas  O.  Summers  of  the  Charleston  Christian  Ad- 
vocate, and  Leroy  M.  Lee  of  the  Richmond  Chris- 
tian Advocate j  how  A.  L.  P.  Green,  H.  B.  Bascom, 
and  Samuel  A.  Latta  were  appointed  Commissioners  to 
settle  the  property  question  pending  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church;  how  John  Early  was  appointed 
Book  Agent;  how  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  was  elected  a  del- 
egate to. attend  the  General  Conference  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  at  Pittsburgh  in  1S4S,  "to  express 
to  that  body  the  Christian  cordiality  and  brotherly  affec- 


EDITING,  FINANCIERING,  FIGHTING.        201 

tion "  of  their  Southern  brethren;  how  Transylvania 
University  was  accepted  by  the  General  Conference, 
and  Dr.  Bascom  and  Dr.  George  F.  Pierce  were  recom- 
mended as  suitable  persons  for  President  and  Vice-pres- 
ident; how  the  boundaries  of  the  several  Annual  Con- 
ferences were  fixed;  how  it  was  resolved  to  send  two 
missionaries  to  China,  to  establish  Missions  among  the 
Jews  in  our  own  cities  whenever  the  door  should  be 
opened,  and  to  establish  a  Mission  in  Africa  at  as  early 
a  date  as  Providence  should  indicate  that  the  way  was 
open;  how  co-operation  with  the  American  Bible  So- 
ciety was  pledged;  how  it  was  recommended  that  where 
there  were  not  churches  expressly  for  the  use  of  the 
colored  people,  proper  provisions  be  made  for  their  ac- 
commodation in  the  churches  occupied  by  the  whites; 
how  the  Discipline  of  the  Church  was  left  unchanged 
in  substance,  though  its  arrangement  was  somewhat 
altered;  how  the  men  that  towered  highest  in  the  last 
year's  Convention  maintained  their  altitude  in  the  Gen- 
eral Conference;  how  John  Early  and  John  B.  McFer- 
rin  seemed  to  be  the  financial  balance-wheels  of  the  one 
body,  as  they  had  been  of  the  other — of  how  all  this  was 
done  only  this  briefest  outline  can  be  given  here.  In 
the  "  History  of  Methodism,"  by  Bishop  H.  N.  Mc- 
Tyeire,  the  story  is  told  lucidly,  fairly,  and  fully. 

In  entering  anew  upon  his  editorial  work,  McFerrin 
reviewed  his  six  years'  experience  therein,  and  indicated 
his  spirit  and  purpose  in  an  article  characteristic  of  the 
man  and  of  the  time  in  which  it  was  written: 

TO  THE  FRIENDS  AND  PATRONS  OF  THE  SOUTH-WESTERN 
CHRISTIAN  ADVOCA  TE. 
You  have  already  learned  through  our  columns  that  the  con- 
nection heretofore  existing  between  this  paper  and  the  General 
Concern  at  New  York  has  been  dissolved.     Hereafter  the  Advo- 


202  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

cafe  published  at  Nashville  -will  be  under  the  exclusive  control  of 
the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  It  will  be  an  organ  of  that  branch  of  our  common  Zion, 
and  will  be  expected  to  advocate  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Meth- 
odism, and  to  sustain  the  Discipline  of  that  organization,  to  which 
the  editors  hold  themselves  responsible,  not  only  as  Christians  and 
Christian  ministers,  but  as  conductors  of  a  journal  which  is  the 
property  of  the  Church.  Whenever  we  can  not  conscientiously 
discharge  our  duty  as  officers  of  the  General  Conference,  as  hon- 
est men  we  will  feel  bound  to  retire  and  allow  the  proper  author- 
ities to  select  such  men  as  will  promote  the  views  and  advance 
the  interests  of  the  Church  whose  servants  we  are,  and  for  whose 
prosperity  we  feel  bound  to  labor. 

The  writer  has  been  in  charge  of  this  paper  for  nearly  six  years. 
He  has,  according  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  discharged  the  high 
responsibilities  resting  upon  him.  He  has  seen  the  Church  in  her 
highest  state  of  prosperity  extending  her  borders  from  the  shores 
of  Canada  to  the  wilds  of  Texas,  while  her  Domestic  and  Foreign 
Missions  have  been  greatly  enlarged.  He  has  seen  the  Church  in 
her  greatest  conflict,  and  has  witnessed  with  heart-felt  sorrow  the 
breach  that  has  been  made  in  the  ranks  of  our  Israel.  To  prevent 
this  disaster  he  labored  until  resistance  was  useless ;  and  when  the 
blow  was  struck  he  felt  that,  with  his  Southern  brethren  in  com- 
mon, he  was  willing  to  sacrifice  himself  upon  the  altar  of  princi- 
ple, and  fall  a  victim  in  support  of  the  rights  of  conscience  which, 
in  his  judgment,  were  infringed  by  the  exercise  of  a  power  un- 
sustained  by  the  law  or  constitution  of  the  Church.  Hence,  since 
the  memorable  Conference  of  1844,  he  has  without  wavering 
maintained  the  principles  upon  which  he  acted  as  a  member  of 
that  body — principles  publicly  avowed,  and  well  understood  by  the 
Conference  when  he  was  placed  in  the  chair  editorial  of  the  South- 
western Christian  Advocate. 

And  now  that  he  has  by  re-election,  at  the  late  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  been  placed  in 
the  highly  responsible  station  of  conducting  one  of  its  organs,  he 
enters  upon  his  labors  with  a  sense  of  his  obligations,  feeling  that 
his  work  is  onerous,  and  that  to  God  and  his  brethren  he  will  be 
held  amenable  for  the  faithful  performance  of  his  duties.  He, 
however,  advances  to  his  work  with  the  greater  confidence,  from 
several  considerations. 


EDITING,  FINANCIERING,  FIGHTING.       203 

1.  An  experience  of  several  years  has  satisfied  him  that  he  will 
have  the  hearty  good-will  and  cordial  co-operation  of  his  brethren 
in  the  ministry  and  membership.  The  kind  indulgence  of  the 
former  and  the  liberal  support  of  the  latter  inspire  him  with  con- 
fidence that  in  time  to  come  there  will  be  no  want  of  zeal  upon  the 
part  of  those  interested  in  sustaining  any  enterprise  of  the  Church. 

2.  He  gratulates  himself  upon  the  fact  that  he  has  in  the  person 
of  his  colleague  an  able  and  efficient  coadjutor,  who  has  already 
given  to  the  readers  of  the  Advocate  demonstration  of  his  ability 
to  fill  well  the  station  to  which  he  has  been  called.  With  a  co- 
laborer  of  much  experience  he  hopes,  then,  to  make  the  Nashville 
Christian  Advocate  a  paper  worthy  the  continued  patronage  of  an 
enlightened  and  generous  public. 

And  now,  friends  and  brethren,  in  entering  anew  upon  our 
toils,  we  ask  the  continuance  of  your  prayers,  good  wishes,  and 
liberal  support.  We  have  no  netv  doctrines  to  advance,  no  new 
rules  of  discipline  to  sustain,  no  untried  system  upon  which  we  are 
about  to  experiment ;  we  are  Methodists,  Episcopal  Methodists — 
Methodists  in  doctrine  and  economy,  such  as  were  our  fathers ; 
Methodists  of  the  Asburian  and  McKcndreean  school.  We  seek 
no  changes,  we  ask  no  new  modifications  of  our  well-tried  system. 
It  has  stood  the  test  and  proved  itself  to  be  an  efficient  plan,  and 
we  believe  one  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  God's  holy 
word.  We  love  Methodism— Methodism  in  its  simplicity  and 
godly  sincerity — that  Methodism  which  is  "  Christianity  in  ear- 
nest." Converted  through  Methodist  influence,  reared  and  nurt- 
ured by  Methodists  from  our  infancy  in  Christian  experience,  and 
having  been  long  identified  with  her  in  her  class-meetings,  love- 
feasts,  and  sacraments,  and  in  her  ministry,  our  love  for  her  in- 
creases, and  we  desire  that  her  reputation  should  remain  untar- 
nished and  her  escutcheon  unstained. 

It  will  be  our  highest  pleasure  to  cultivate  peace  with  all  men, 
and  more  especially  with  our  brethren  from  whom  we  have  re- 
cently separated.  We  most  earnestly  desire  that  the  Northern  press 
should  cease  its  hostility,  and  allow  us  to  pursue  our  own  course 
without  molestation;  but  if  we  shall  be  compelled  still  to  defend 
ourselves  against  the  assaults  of  our  brethren,  we  will  strive  to 
maintain  that  spirit  of  charity  which  suffereth  long  and  is  kind, 
and  only  defend  ourselves  for  the  maintenance  of  truth. 

J.  B.  McFerrix. 


204  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

This  "leader"  exhibits  in  every  part  of  it  the  pugna- 
cious conservatism,  or  the  conservative  pugnacity,  that 
characterized  this  man  who  always  wanted  peace,  and 
was  ready  to  fight  for  it  when  to  him  it  seemed  needful. 
"Let  us  alone,"  he  says  with  kindly  voice;  but  there  is 
a  warning  gleam  under  his  eyebrows,  and  the  clinched 
hand  and  corded  muscles  of  his  arm  show  that  if  struck 
he  will  not  be  slow  to  return  the  blow. 


THE  NEW  REGIME. 


AS  was  inevitable,  a  heavy  cannonade  and  a  fierce  fu- 
sillade from  the  big  guns  and  small-arms  of  the 
North  were  opened  upon  the  new  organization  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  The  proceedings 
of  the  General  Conference  were  assailed  by  the  New 
York  and  Western  Christian  Advocates.  "Myself  and 
my  colleague,  as  in  duty  bound,"  says  McFerrin,  "  defend- 
ed our  Church,  and  maintained  as  best  we  could  our 
rights  and  the  rights  of  Southern  Methodists.  Our  suc- 
cess was  all  that  could  have  been  desired."  How  like  him 
is  this  language!  He  felt  in  duty  bound  to  strike  back, 
and  if  he  ever  got  the  worst  of  any  encounter  he  did 
not  know  it.  Editors  Bond  and  Elliott  may  have  felt 
the  same  complacency  at  the  result  of  the  contest.  Each 
party  seemed  to  be  astonished  at  the  acrimony  exhibited 
by  the  other,  and  not  without  reason.  But  it  does  not 
follow  that  they  were  intentionally  unfair  or  consciously 
unchristian  in  spirit.  "In  all  my  controversy,"  wrote 
McFerrin  in  1875,  "  I  never  intentionally  misrepresented 
any  of  the  facts  involved ;  neither  did  I  ever  intentionally 
pervert  or  misstate  the  argument  of  an  opponent.  I  may 
not  always  have  been  in  the  right,  but  I  thought  always 
that  I  was  the  advocate  of  the  truth  and  of  what  was 
acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God."  This  solemn  assevera- 
tion, made  after  nearly  thirty  years  had  come  and  gone 
with  their  sober  after-thought  and  chastening  influence, 
may  stand. 

(205) 


206  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


In  October,  intent  on  newspaper  success  financially, 
and  eager  to  see  and  enlarge  his  growing  constituency, 
he  sallied  forth  on  a  fresh  Western  tour,  first  visiting  the 
Missouri  Conference,  which  held  its  session  at  Hannibal, 
on  the  Mississippi  River,  above  the  city  of  St.  Louis. 
Bishop  Paine  presided.  It  was  his  first  Conference  after 
his  ordination.  In  the  chair,  in  the  pulpit,  and  in  the 
cabinet  he  exhibited  the  high  qualities  that  distinguished 
him  during  the  whole  of  his  long  career  as  a  Bishop. 
This  note  of  McFerrin,  written  in  connection  with  this 
occasion,  has  a  happy  significance:  "As  I  was  very  ear- 
nest and  active  in  his  election  to  the  office  of  General 
Superintendent,  it  gave  me  much  pleasure  that  he  began 
his  work  as  a  Bishop  with  so  much  ability  and  promise 
of  usefulness  in  his  new  sphere.  He  very  reluctantly 
accepted  the  office,  but  I  doubt  not  God  moved  in  his 
election."  At  the  Conference  McFerrin  stirred  the 
Missourians  in  the  pulpit  and  on  the  platform  in  his 
usual  style.  At  Palmyra,  Glasgow,  Fayette,  and  Boone- 
ville,  he  preached  with  great  immediate  effect,  and 
left  impressions  of  himself  on  his  hearers  that  were 
never  effaced.  The  energetic,  courageous  people  of  the 
West  recognized  a  kindred  spirit  in  this  man,  whose  talks 
to  them  combined  so  much  common  sense,  mother-wit, 
and  audacity.  In  one  of  his  letters  of  travel  he  moral- 
izes thus  on  the  junction  of  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi 
Rivers:  "I  left  St.  Louis  Tuesday  evening  at  dark  on 
board  a  fine  little  steamer.  The  next  morning  I  awoke 
and  found  myself  some  distance  above  the  junction  of 
the  Missouri  and  Mississippi  Rivers.  When  I  looked 
out  upon  the  placid,  clear  stream,  as  it  glided  gracefully 
along,  I  could  not  realize  that  I  was  ascending  the  Mis- 
sissippi.     I  had  descended  the  Illinois  and  Missouri  Riv- 


THE  NE  W  REGIME.  207 

ers;  I  had  read  of  the  marked  difference  between  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Mississippi ;  but  still  the  contrast  was 
so  great  that  I  could  scarcely  believe  my  own  eyes.  The 
Mississippi,  as  I  have  been  accustomed  to  see  it,  with  its 
turbid  waters,  its  serpentine  windings,  its  crumbling 
banks,  its  immense  volume  boiling  and  dashing  furiously 
on,  was  so  different  from  what  I  now  beheld  that  I  in- 
voluntarily exclaimed:  '  Surely,  there  is  some  mistake  in 
this  matter.'  Here  was  a  river  clear  as  the  Cumber- 
land, gentle  as  the  Ohio,  pure  as  the  Niagara,  dotted 
with  beautiful  islands,  moving  smoothly  on  amidst  the 
wild  woods  and  broad  prairies,  bearing  upon  its  bosom 
the  productions  of  a  vast  country,  the  resources  of  which 
are  just  beginning  to  be  developed.  But  soon  it  is  lost 
in  the  mighty  tide  of  the  great  Missouri,  where  its  wa- 
ters mingle  with  the  muddy  stream  that  rolls  from  the 
base  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  sweeping  through  the 
most  extensive  valley  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  How 
much  like  the  race  of  man!  Pure  and  unpolluted  he 
came  from  the  hand  of  his  Creator;  but  alas!  mingling 
with  the  turbid  waters  of  sin  his  life  is  defiled,  and  like 
the  overswelling  flood  he  carries  death  and  destruction 
in  his  course."  If  the  figure  in  this  extract  is  a  little 
strained,  the  description  is  good  and  the  theology  is  sound. 
A  great  revival  in  Nashville  this  year  was  joyfully 
recorded  in  his  paper.  Fountain  E.  Pitts,  the  chief  in- 
strument in  the  work,  reported  over  four  hundred  con- 
versions, three  hundred  and  eighty-five  of  whom  joined 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  "  Our  young 
members,"  he  added,  "  are  very  lively,  and  are  delighted 
with  their  class-meetings  and  prayer-meetings."  L.  C. 
Bryan,  a  sweet-spirited,  fervent  man,  was  Pitts's  col- 
league and  helper.     McFerrin  took  part  in  the  work  as 


208  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


opportunity  permitted,  and  rejoiced  in  the  gracious  re- 
sults. 

His  home  was  gladdened  this  year  by  the  birth  of  a 
son,  who  was  named  for  his  two  grandfathers,  James 
William,  and  who  lived  to  manhood's  estate.  The 
tragic  death  of  this  noble  and  beloved  son  was  one  of 
the  heaviest  sorrows  that  fell  to  the  father  in  his  old 
age.  But  no  prescience  of  his  fate  cast  any  shadow  upon 
the  brightness  of  the  joy  at  his  birth,  or  marred  the 
comfort  derived  from  the  promise  of  his  youth  and  the 
nobility  of  his  manhood. 

At  the  Tennessee  Conference  this  year  (1846)  Bish- 
ops Soule  and  Andrew  were  both  present,  and  alternated 
in  presiding.  McFerrin  was  assistant  Secretary,  the 
Rev.  F.  G.  Ferguson  being  the  principal.  At  this  ses- 
sion of  the  body  was  organized  the  "Preachers'  Relief 
Fund,"  of  which  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  managers, 
and  to  which  he  gave  his  labors  in  the  very  last  year  of 
his  life.  The  fact  that  Bishop  Andrew  ordained  fifty- 
five  deacons  and  Bishop  Soule  twenty-six  elders  at  this 
session  of  the  Conference  is  a  proof  of  the  vitality  and 
vigor  of  Methodism  at  that  time  within  its  territory. 

At  this  Conference  a  resolution  was  adopted  advising 
young  preachers  to  refrain  from  entering  into  matrimo- 
nial alliances  until  after  they  have  been  elected  to  elder's 
orders — "  in  the  general  a  wise  suggestion,"  says  McFer- 
rin. "After  many  years'  observation,"  he  adds,  "  I  am 
satisfied  that  more  preachers  have  finally  failed  from 
premature  matches  than  from  any  other  cause."  But 
few  readers  among  the  preachers  will  dissent  from  the 
opinion  here  expressed;  but  that  clause,  "in  the  gener- 
al," wrill  be  a  saving  clause  to  many  who  disregarded  the 
suggestion,  and  many  more  who  will  do  so  in  marrying. 


THE  NEW  REGIME.  209 


In  nothing  are  prudence  and  discretion  more  needed, 
and  in  nothing  are  they  oftener  ignored,  than  in  this 
sacred  matter  that  involves  beyond  any  other  one  event 
in  human  life  the  temporal  happiness  and  eternal  salva- 
tion of  the  parties.  This  solemn  affirmation  of  this 
acute  observer  and  outspoken  adviser  is  commended  to 
whom  it  may  concern. 

The  collection  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Missionary 
Society  was  $1,200— a  fact  McFerrin  thought  worth 
recording.  At  an  early  period  in  his  ministry  he  be- 
came famous  for  collections;  and  if  any  man  ever  learned 
to  enjoy  the  process  of  depleting  the  pockets  of  a  will- 
ing or  unwilling  congregation  for  the  Lord's  treasury, 
he  was  the  man. 

In  November,  1S46,  he  attended  the  session  of  the 
Memphis  Conference  held  in  the  city  of  Memphis.  On 
account  of  "vexatious  delays"  he  did  not  reach  the  city 
until  Friday,  though  he  left  Nashville  on  Monday.  He 
recorded  only  two  facts  concerning  the  Conference: 
Moses  Brock  was  made  President  pending  the  arrival 
of  Bishop  Andrew,  and  the  missionary  collection  was 
$1,200.      The  collection  he  never  forgot. 

During  this  trip  he  visited  his  mother,  who  then  lived 
near  Somerville,  Tennessee.  His  filial  affection  grew 
deeper  and  tenderer  as  he  grew  in  years  and  honors,  and 
these  periodical  reunions  were  unspeakably  delightful  to 
them  both.  Next  to  the  conscious  favor  of  God,  the 
affectionate  pride  of  a  mother  in  the  success  of  her  son 
is  a  powerful  incentive  to  a  man  of  noblest  mold.  Dur- 
ing this  visit  to  his  beloved  mother  he  met  also  his  broth- 
ers, William  M.  McFerrin  and  James  H.  McFerrin, 
and  his  two  sisters,  Mrs.  Gilliland  and  Mrs.  Applewhite. 
His  social  nature  continued  sweet  and  wholesome 
14 


210  JOHN  D.  McFERRIX. 

through  all  his  active  public  career,  for  he  never  al- 
lowed ambition  to  swallow  up  or  dwarf  his  natural 
affection;  and  as  fond  as  he  undoubtedly  was  of  the  ex- 
citement of  the  rostrum  and  contact  with  crowds,  home 
was  always  to  him  the  dearest  spot  on  earth. 

From  Somerville  he  went  to  Natchez,  the  seat  of  the 
Mississippi  Conference.  He  was  powerfully  impressed 
by  "  those  great  and  good  men,"  as  he  called  them — Dr. 
Winans,  Dr.  Drake,  John  Lane,  Dr.  Thornton,  and 
Judge  Shattuck,  who  were  there  in  the  fullness  of  their 
strength.  Of  the  three  first  named  mention  is  made 
elsewhere  in  this  volume.  Dr.  Thornton  was  indeed  a 
strong  man  of  purest  metal,  of  large  nature  and  glowing 
zeal.  Judge  Shattuck  was  worthy  of  the  special  mention 
given  him.  School-master,  preacher,  lawyer,  jurist,  he 
was  versatile  almost  beyond  precedent,  and  yet  not  vola- 
tile or  wayward.  As  an  evangelist  he  was  in  his  early 
ministry  a  flame  of  fire ;  as  a  lawyer  and  jurist  he  was  re- 
spected for  his  learning  and  revered  for  his  integrity 
and  benignity;  as  a  school-master  he  combined  the  dis- 
cipline that  commanded  obedience  with  the  fatherliness 
that  won  the  affection  of  his  pupils.  His  sermons  were 
models  in  clearness  of  method  and  never-failing  com- 
mon sense;  his  prayers  in  the  public  congregation,  as  on 
mighty  waves  of  faith,  bore  the  assembled  worshipers 
upward  into  the  very  presence  of  the  King  Eternal. 
Born  in  Connecticut,  he  became  an  ardent  Southerner 
in  his  feelings  when  he  came  to  know  the  South.  In 
Mississippi  he  combined,  as  perhaps  no  other  man  ever 
did,  the  functions  of  preacher,  politician,  and  lawyer,  in 
stormy  times.  He  went  to  California  at  an  early  day, 
and  was  the  first  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  San 
Francisco.     He  was   a  terror  to  shysters   and  all  other 


THE  NEW  REGIME.  211 

evil-doers  that  came  before  him;  but  his  kindly  face 
was  welcomed  on  the  bench  by  every  litigant  and  every 
lawyer  who  had  a  good  cause.  Though  he  was  South- 
ern in  his  political  ideas  and  affiliations,  he  cherished  an 
undying  love  for  New  England,  the  place  of  his  birth. 
At  a  Democratic  convention  held  in  Sacramento  City 
about  1853,  a  delegate  raised  a  laugh  by  alluding  to  him 
as  "  his  Southern  friend  from  Connecticut."  Shattuck 
rose  to  his  feet  with  a  smile  on  his  kindly  face,  and  said : 
"  I  accept  the  designation  which  my  friend  has  given 
me — a  Southern  man  from  Connecticut.  There  are  no 
skies  so  beautiful  to  me  as  those  that  arched  above  my 
childhood's  home,  no  hills  so  dear  as  those  climbed  by 
my  boyish  feet,  and  of  all  the  streams  that  water  the 
earth  none  looks  so  lovely  to  my  eyes  as  the  smooth- 
flowing  Connecticut.  I  love  New  England,  I  love  her 
people,  I  glory  in  their  history,  and  I  am  specially 
grieved  at  any  indication  that  they  are  departing  from 
the  faith  of  the  fathers  of  this  Government  and  setting 
up  false  gods."  The  applause  that  followed  this  friendly 
retort  was  a  tribute  to  the  manliness  of  the  speaker  no 
less  than  to  the  patriotic  sentiment  he  uttered. 

McFerrin  recorded  with  pleasure  the  fact  that  his 
hostess  at  Natchez,  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Berry  Jones, 
was  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Heman  Bangs,  of  New  York. 
His  heart  never  failed  to  kindle  when  he  met  the  name 
of  a  fraternal  brother  who  lived  on  the  other  side  of  the 
sectional  line. 

With  Dr.  Henkle  he  undertook  this  year  the  publica- 
tion of  a  monthly  magazine  called  the  Lady^s  Compafi- 
ion.  It  was  an  early  literary  blossom  that  did  not  come 
to  full  fruitage,  but  for  a  time  it  was  popular  and  made 
money.     Dr.  Henkle,  who  did  most  of  its  editorial  work, 


212  JOHN  B.  McFERRIX. 

was  good-natured,  sentimental,  and  devout,  and  its  pages 
reflected  his  spirit.  McFerrin  looked  after  its  business 
management.  It  was  published  with  the  approbation 
of  the  Publishing  Committee  of  the  Christian  Advo- 
cate, and  with  the  approval  of  two  of  the  Bishops.  Its 
profits  were  applied  to  the  support  of  the  superannuated 
preachers  and  the  widows  and  orphans'  fund.  McFerrin 
concentrated  his  editorial  work  upon  the  Christian 
Advocate,  and  on  February  19,  1847,  he  was  able  to 
make  the  joyful  declaration  that  it  had  ten  thousand 
subscribers,  and  was  out  of  debt.  All  who  have  any 
practical  knowledge  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  early 
religious  journalism  will  pardon  this  little  "  hurrah  "  from 
the  man  by  whose  energy  and  skill  this  achievement  was 
made. 

Some  sharp  disputes  on  Christian  doctrine  during  this 
year  kept  his  controversial  weapons  from  rusting,  and 
gave  the  comforting  assurance  that  he  was  a  faithful 
watchman  on  Zion's  walls.  We  let  him  tell  how  it  hap- 
pened: 

"  During  the  winter  I  had  quite  a  sharp  discussion,  or 
controversy,  with  Talbot  Fanning,  a  preacher  of  the 
Campbellite  or  'Christian'  order.  Mr.  Fanning  I  had 
known  from  our  younger  days.  He  was  a  man  of  gifts 
and  respectable  attainments.  He  taught  school,  and  was 
President  for  years  of  the  'Franklin  College,'  an  in- 
stitution situated  in  the  country  a  few  miles  from  Nash- 
ville. In  his  younger  days  Mr.  Fanning  was  what  was 
called  in  this  country  a  'schismatic,'  or  a  follower  of 
the  celebrated  Barton  Stone.  He  was  indeed  an  Arian 
in  belief.  He  was  very  bitter  in  his  opposition  to  what 
he  called  '  the  sects.'  He  took  pleasure  especially  in 
ridiculing  the   Methodists  and  the  doctrine  of  spiritual 


THE  NEW  REGIME.  213 


and  experimental  religion.  Being  about  the  same  age, 
and  knowing  him  personally,  I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to 
rebuke  him.  This  I  did  with  some  severity.  We  had 
a  number  of  shots  back  and  forth.  Toward  his  later 
years  he  became  much  mellowed  in  his  spirit  and  tone. 
He  and  I  were  friends,  but  we  never  came  together  in 
our  doctrinal  views.  He  died  suddenly  in  1S74,  and 
went  to  his  reward.  In  my  last  interview  with  him,  a 
few  months  before  his  death,  when  he  was  in  good 
health,  I  remarked  to  him  pleasantly  and  in  good  ear- 
nest: 'Brother  Fanning,  you  have  done  good,  I  have  no 
doubt,  as  a  teacher,  but  as  a  preacher  your  life  has  been 
a  failure.'  He  looked  seriously  at  me,  and  then  pleas  • 
antly  remarked  that  he  would  see  me  some  time  on  that 
subject  and  would  pay  me  back.  I  never  saw  him  again. 
He  had  many  good  qualities,  but  I  thought  he  was  far 
from  teaching  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

"  In  the  early  part  of  this  year  I  had  a  long  discus- 
sion with  one  of  our  correspondents  on  infant  purity. 
This  discussion  occupied  some  time,  and  I  trust  resulted 
in  good.  To  deny  man's  natural  depravity,  and  his  in- 
capacity to  obey  God's  law  before  he  is  renewed,  is 
absurd,  contrary  to  the  teachings  of  God's  word,  to 
human  experience,  and  to  the  facts  of  human  history. 
4  There  is  not  a  just  man  upon  the  earth,  thatdoeth  good 
and  sinneth  not.'  (Eccles.  vii.  20.)  This  same  question," 
he  added,  "  was  discussed  in  the  papers  in  after  years.  I 
have  feared  that  in  maintaining  the  right  of  children  to 
Christian  baptism  and  the  zeal  for  Sunday-schools  and 
moral  training,  there  has  been  a  tendency  in  the  minds 
of  many  of  our  preachers  and  people  toward  Pelagian- 
ism.  To  be  sure  we  should  magnify  the  grace  of  God 
in  the  salvation  of  all  infant  children  who  die  in  child- 


214  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

hood,  or  before  coming  to  the  years  of  discretion,  but 
that  in  no  wise  changes  the  teachings  of  God's  word, 
which  affirms  that  'all  have  sinned  and  come  short  of  the 
glory  of  God.'" 

At  the  Tennessee  Conference,  which  met  November 
3,  1S47,  Bishops  Soule  and  Paine  were  both  present. 
On  the  first  day  McFerrin  preached  the  annual  sermon, 
to  which  he  had  been  elected  a  year  previous.  His  text 
was  1  Corinthians  ii.  4,  5:  "And  my  speech  and  my 
preaching  wTas  not  with  enticing  words  of  man's  wis- 
dom, but  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power: 
that  your  faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men, 
but  in  the  power  of  God."  From  such  a  text  it  is  not 
difficult  to  infer  what  sort  of  a  sermon  he  preached  on 
that  occasion.  His  hearers  got  Arminian  theology  un- 
diluted, and  the  supernatural  element  of  gospel  preach- 
ing was  affirmed  with  the  emphasis  of  earnest  conviction 
and  illustrated  from  his  own  experience.  In  the  copious 
baptism  from  on  high  that  fell  upon  the  Conference 
while  he  was  preaching  there  was  a  fresh  demonstration 
of  the  truth  of  his  doctrine.  A  copy  of  the  discourse 
was  requested  for  publication,  but  he  declined  to  furnish 
it — probably  for  the  reason  that  he  had  not  written  it 
out,  and  would  rather  preach  a  hundred  sermons  than 
write  one.  He  also  made  one  of  his  characteristic  ad- 
dresses on  the  occasion  of  the  missionary  anniversary. 
At  that  time,  and  for  several  years,  he  was  the  treasurer 
of  the  Tennessee  Conference  Missionary  Society. 

In  company  with  Bishop  Soule  and  Dr.  Edward 
Wadsworth,  he  attended  the  Memphis  Conference, 
which  convened  at  Jackson  November  24,  1847.  The 
journey  was  made  in  a  one-horse  barouche,  taking  five 
days,  including  Sunday,  which  was  spent  at  Waverly, 


THE  NEW  REGIME.  215 

where  Dr.  Wadsworth  preached.  Dr.  Wadsworth  was 
the  successor  of  Bishop  Paine  as  President  of  La  Grange 
College.  He  was  worthy  of  this  succession — a  preach- 
er of  much  clearness  of  thought  and  spiritual  power,  a 
scholar  of  varied  learning  who  knew  what  he  knew,  a 
teacher  who  had  the  happy  art  of  infusing  moral  influ- 
ence while  imparting  knowledge,  a  man  of  thought  who 
knew  books,  a  man  of  prayer  who  knew  God.  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  Alabama,  and  Tennessee  all  helped  to 
mold  and  make  him  what  he  was,  and  his  track  can  be 
traced  by  a  radiant  line  wherever  he  went. 

McFerrin's  veneration  for  Bishop  Soule  was  never 
diminished,  but  rather  enhanced,  by  the  familiar  inter- 
course of  many  years.  He  gives  us  a  pleasant  picture 
of  that  grand  man  as  he  appeared  on  this  journey: 
"  Bishop  Soule,  though  advanced  in  years  and  in  feeble 
health,  was  a  most  agreeable  traveling  companion.  He 
never  murmured  or  complained;  he  was  always  cheer- 
ful, and  always  trying  to  make  others  happy.  Alto- 
gether he  was  among  the  most  affable  and  agreeable 
Christian  gentlemen  I  ever  knew.  I  am  certain  I  never 
saw  his  superior  in  these  respects." 

In  1847  and  1848  McFerrin  had  what  he  called  "an 
animated  discussion  "  with  the  Christian  Record,  a  Pres- 
byterian paper  edited  by  several  Presbyterian  clergy- 
men. "  That  paper,"  he  says,  "  made  a  heavy  charge 
upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Methodist  Church,  maintain- 
ing stoutly  the  doctrines  of  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith.  I  had  the  popular  side  in  the  argument.  The 
principal  contestant  was  my  friend  the  Rev.  Dr.  Laps- 
ley.  He  and  I  had  been  intimate  for  years.  In  this 
discussion  we  became  somewhat  heated,  or  rather  my 
friend   did,     I  tried    to  keep  cool.     [Of  course  he  did, 


216  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

but  the  files  show  the  battle-heat.]  We  afterward  be- 
came as  in  former  times,  but  more  intimate.  I  often 
preached  to  his  congregation.  He  was  a  strong  Cal- 
vinist,  but  a  good  man.  He  died  as  he  had  lived — a  wor- 
thy Christian  gentleman." 

During  all  this  time  the  discussion  was  kept  up  with 
"our  brethren  of  the  North"  concerning  the  separation 
of  the  Church  in  1S44.  The  Southern  Methodists  were 
denounced  by  some  of  the  Northern  editors  as  secession- 
ists and  schismatics.  The  Southerners  maintained  that 
the  division  was  by  mutual  consent,  and  that  the  North 
— if  any  wrong  was  done — were  the  wrong-doers,  for 
they  were  in  the  majority,  and  consequently  able  to  con- 
trol the  action  of  the  General  Conference.  And  so  the 
fire  continued  at  long  range,  while  here  and  there  on 
the  border  the  fight  was  hand  to  hand.  The  feeling  of 
antagonism  was  intensified  by  the  action  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
which  met  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  where  the  Plan 
of  Separation  was  nullified,  and  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce,  fra- 
ternal messenger  from  the  Southern  Church,  was  re- 
jected. The  long  and  bitter  controversy  that  followed 
makes  one  of  the  most  painful  chapters  in  the  history 
of  American  Methodism.  McFerrin's  position  as  editor 
necessitated  that  he  should  take  a  prominent  part  in  this 
controversy.  He  affirms  that  he  "  tried  to  preserve  a 
good  temper  and  write  in  the  spirit  of  candor,"  and  no 
one  will  now  question  his  sincerity,  whatever  may  have 
been  thought  and  said  by  his  antagonists  at  the  time. 

The  Christian  Advocate,  at  this  juncture,  was  like  a 
Gatling  gun,  revolving  rapidly,  and  scattering  its  shot 
on  all  sides.     McFerrin  puts  the  case  thus: 

"  I  had  a  contest  about  this  time  with  the  editor  of  the 


THE  NEW  REGIME.  217 

Cumberland  Presbyterian,  on  the  doctrine  of  the  possi- 
bility of  apostasy,  and  we  were  again  assailed  by  the 
Tennessee  Baptist. 

"  Indeed,  the  whole  world  seemed  to  be  against  us. 
Our  doctrines  were  assailed,  our  government  was  criti- 
cised, and  many  of  our  leading  men  personally  scandal- 
ized. And  then  the  controversy  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  made  our  sheet  in  some  of  its  aspects 
very  militant.  So  it  is,  men  oftentimes  have  to  contend 
earnestly  for  the  faith.  It,  however,  should  always  be 
done  in  a  Christian  spirit.  Professed  Christians  should 
never  exhibit  angry  passions." 

These  battles  will  not  be  fought  over  again  in  these 
pages,  but  they  will  be  dismissed  with  this  personal  af 
firmation  by  McFerrin,  written  after  nearly  all  the  com- 
batants were  dead,  and  when  he  himself  was  near  the 
end:  "In  my  long  editorial  life  I  had  many  discussions, 
mostly  in  defending  the  creed  and  polity  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  In  all  these  controversies  I  was 
sincere  in  my  convictions  and  in  my  defense  of  my 
Church.  Sometimes  I  indulged  in  severe  remarks,  be- 
cause I  thought  the  circumstances  demanded  or  justified 
it.  Hard  arguments  have  always  been  considered  fair 
if  the  words  are  soft." 

In  the  month  of  March  of  the  year  1S4S  his  second  son, 
John  Anderson,  was  born  in  the  city  of  Nashville.  This 
son  fulfilled  his  father's  wish  and  prayer  by  becoming  a 
minister  of  the  gospel,  and  is  now  a  worthy  member  of 
the  Tennessee  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 

During  the  autumn  and  winter  of  this  year  (1S4S)  he 
attended  at  Louisville  a  meeting  of  the  Missionary  So- 
ciety of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  of 


218  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

the  Commissioners  appointed  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence to  settle  questions  of  property  between  the  North 
and  the  South;  spent  a  Sunday  in  Cincinnati,  where  he 
preached  twice  (in  the  morning  at  the  Southern  Meth- 
odist Church,  and  at  night  at  the  Church  of  Dr.  Thomas 
H.  Stockton);  attended  the  Kentucky  Conference  at 
Flemingsburg,  where  he  heard  "two  great  sermons" 
on  Sunday — one  from  Bishop  Capers,  and  another  from 
Dr.  Bascom — and  where  he  himself  preached  on  Sunday 
night,  and  made  a  speech  on  Monday  night  at  the  mis- 
sionary meeting.  He  had  a  spell  of  sickness  on  his  re- 
turn home,  but  recovered  in  time  to  be  present  at  the 
Tennessee  Conference,  which  met  at  Clarksville  Octo- 
ber 26.  He  dressed  his  paper  in  new  type,  and  paid  a 
dividend  of  seventy-five  dollars  to  each  of  the  patron- 
izing Conferences.  At  the  Conference  he  heard  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Noah  Levings,  Agent  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  whom  he  called  "a  great  preacher  and  a  grand 
platform  speaker."  Visiting  his  mother  on  the  way,  in 
December  he  went  to  Vicksburg,  where  the  Mississippi 
Conference  was  in  session.  Here  he  met  Dr.  Levings 
again,  and  heard  him  preach  his  last  sermon.  He  (Dr. 
Levings)  spoke  at  the  missionary  meeting  on  Saturday 
night,  made  a  Bible  address  on  Monday  night,  left  on  a 
boat,  reached  Cincinnati  sick  of  cholera,  lingered  a  few 
days,  and  died.  "He  was  a  noble  Christian  minister" 
is  McFerrin's  estimate  of  him.  Though  rough  and 
sharp  in  debate,  McFerrin  was  unenvious  and  hearty  in 
his  admiration  of  the  gifts  and  graces  of  his  brethren. 


CONVERSION  OF  PRESIDENT  POLK. 


THE  story  of  the  conversion  of  President  James  K. 
Polk,  eleventh  President  of  the  United  States,  is 
to  be  told  here.  It  is  outwardly  to  be  dated  in  1S49,  ^ut 
its  genesis  goes  back  farther  than  that.  There  are  what 
are  called  sudden  conversions,  and  there  are  gradual  con- 
versions, so  called.  But  what  seems  to  be  a  sudden 
conversion  may  go  back  to  the  first  glimmer  of  spiritual 
perception  and  include  every  gracious  influence  that  has 
ever  touched  the  soul.  The  culminating  experience 
may  be  very  vivid  to  the  consciousness,  and  may  be  the 
result  of  special  conditions  that  crystallize  the  elements 
that  were  mingled  in  the  life,  and  had  been  gathering  in 
preparation  for  this  final  transforming  touch. 

At  a  camp-meeting  held  at  McPeak's  Camp-ground, 
near  Columbia,  Tennessee,  in  1833,  McFerrin  preached 
one  of  his  characteristic  sermons.  Among  his  hearers 
was  a  young  lawyer  who  was  rapidly  rising  to  distinc- 
tion as  a  public  man.  The  plain  common  sense  and  ear- 
nest spirit  of  the  sermon  commended  the  truth  to  the 
judgment  of  the  clear-headed  and  honest  lawyer,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  opened  his  heart  to  receive  the  message 
of  God.  The  gracious  impression  was  indelible.  He 
went  away  from  the  camp-ground  a  convicted  sinner,  if 
not  a  converted  man.  The  words  of  the  sermon  still 
rung  in  his  inner  ear,  the  prayers  and  songs  of  the  wor- 
shiping multitude  followed  him,  and  as  he  rode  home- 
ward  through  the   beech    forests  and    fertile  fields    of 

(219) 


220  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN, 

Maury  County  he  was  a  changed  man.  Why  did  he 
not  make  an  open  profession  and  unite  with  the  Church? 
He  was  a  man  of  strong  political  convictions,  and  was 
an  ardent  partisan,  not  slow  to  express  his  opinions  nor 
weak  in  their  defense.  It  may  be  that  he  was  one  of 
the  many  men  of  this  stamp  who,  in  the  rush  and  rough 
collisions  of  politics,  defer  positive  action  with  regard 
to  the  vital  matter  of  religion  for  the  quieter  hour  they 
hope  to  find  in  a  coming  day.  Ambition  is  hardening, 
and  delays  are  dangerous.  Happy  for  them  if  they  are 
not  swept  to  destruction  by  the  fatal  current  to  which 
they  thus  yield  themselves.  The  pushing  of  a  political 
career  too  often  proves  the  ruin  of  a  soul.  A  double 
tragedy  is  enacted  when,  having  broken  over  the  moral 
barriers  that  seemed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  success,  the 
lower  nature  becomes  altogether  dominant,  and  both 
body  and  soul  are  lost.  The  very  temperament  and  gifts 
that  command  success  in  politics  are  the  sources  of  the 
temptations  that  destroy  politicians.  The  tide  that  floats 
them  dashes  them  against  the  rocks.  Mr.  Polk  was 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives;  he  was  the 
presidential  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  in  a  can- 
vass of  intense  excitement;  he  was  President  during 
four  eventful  years,  with  a  foreign  war  on  his  hands  and 
a  vigilant  and  able  opposition  party  to  fight  at  every 
step ;  and  yet  no  whisper  of  detraction  was  ever  breathed 
against  his  personal  character.  As  he  was  opposed  to 
that  matchless  party  leader,  Henry  Clay,  it  was  partisan 
fashion  to  belittle  him  intellectually;  all  the  wit  and 
sarcasm  of  the  splendid  old  Whig  party  were  expended 
in  drawing  unfavorable  contrasts  between  the  two  men 
in  this  regard;  but  no  one  ever  insinuated  that  Polk  was 
not  a  true  man,  pure  in  his  private  morals  and  above  all 


CONVERSION  OF  PRESIDENT  POLK.         221 

suspicion  of  official  venality.  Now  that  they  are  both 
dead,  all  their  countrymen  are  proud  of  the  genius  and 
patriotism  of  Clay  and  of  the  purity  and  administrative 
ability  of  his  less  brilliant  but  more  successful  compet- 
itor. Mr.  Polk  was  fortified  by  Christian  principle. 
Under  the  pressure  of  the  heavy  responsibilities  of  his 
great  office  he  leaned  upon  the  arm  of  the  gracious  God 
who  came  so  close  to  him  that  Sunday,  under  the  brush- 
arbor  in  the  hills  of  Tennessee,  while  the  minister  of 
Christ  preached  to  him  the  word  of  life.  His  mother 
was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  his  wife 
was  a  worthy  member  of  the  same  denomination.  Mr. 
Polk  was  a  Methodist  in  sentiment.  These  facts  prob- 
ably explain  his  failure  to  make  a  formal  profession  of 
his  faith  in  Christ  by  uniting  with  the  Church.  The 
thought  of  separating  in  Church  affiliation  from  his  be- 
loved mother,  and  from  the  wife  whose  virtues  and  gifts 
so  adorned  her  high  station  as  the  wife  of  the  chief 
ruler  of  a  great  nation,  and  whose  affection  was  the  joy 
of  his  life,  was  painful  to  him.  His  domes.tic  relations 
drew  him  in  one  direction,  and  his  religious  convictions 
and  affinities  in  another.  Thus  pivoted,  he  let  the  years 
go  by,  holding  to  his  faith  and  purpose  and  hope  as  a 
believer,  but  doubtless  losing  much  both  in  the  comforts 
and  joys  of  religious  experience  and  in  the  influence  he 
would  have  exerted  as  an  avowed  disciple  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  and  an  active  member  of  his  Church. 

On  his  return  from  Washington  City,  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  presidential  term,  Mr.  Polk  settled  in  Nash- 
ville, where  he  proposed  to  spend  the  evening  of  his 
life.  He  had  fixed  the  purpose  in  his  heart  of  uniting 
with  the  Methodist  Church.  This  purpose  was  known 
only  to  himself  and  his  wife.     When  he  was  taken  with 


222  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

what  proved  to  be  his  last  illness  he  sent  for  McFerrin, 
revealed  the  matter  to  him,  and  requested  to  be  bap- 
tized and  received  into  the  Methodist  Church.  And 
then,  by  request  of  the  dying  statesman,  the  memorials 
of  the  death  and  passion  of  our  Lord  were  administered 
to  him  according  to  the  solemn  ritual  of  the  Church; 
and  he  died,  we  may  trust,  in  full  hope  of  heaven.  His 
remains  were  taken  to  McKendree  Church,  where  the 
funeral  services  took  place.  A  great  concourse  of  peo- 
ple were  present,  and  listened  to  the  sermon  which  was 
preached  by  McFerrin  from  the  same  text  on  which 
was  preached  the  one  under  which  he  was  awakened  and 
formed  the  purpose  of  becoming  a  Christian  in  1S33. 
This  sermon  will  make  the  next  chapter,  and  some  will 
invest  it  with  a  threefold  value  because  of  its  historic 
interest,  its  illustration  of  McFerrin's  modes  of  thinking 
and  written  style,  and  the  solace  it  will  convey  to  sor- 
rowing hearts  in  view  of  death  and  the  grave. 


*-»^I&<<-* 
*->>(^^* 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE. 


A  Sermon  Delivered  at  the  Funeral  of  ex-President  James  K.  Polk, 
in  the  McKendree  Church,  Nashville,  Tennessee,  June  if,  i84g 

Text:  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  ac- 
cording to  his  abundant  mercy  hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively  hope  by 
the  resurrection  ot  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead  ;  to  an  inheritance  incorruptible, 
and  undefiled,  and  hat  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  you,  who  are 
kept  by  the  power  of  G'.d  through  faith  unto  salvation  ready  to  be  revealed  in 
the  last  time."     (i  Pet.  i.  3-5  ) 

NOTWITHSTANDING  the  very  intimate  relation  between 
Christ  and  his  disciples  for  three  years  and  more,  they  did 
not  fully  comprehend  the  nature  and  design  of  his  mission. 
When,  therefore,  he  was  betrayed,  and  tried,  and  condemned,  and 
crucified,  and  buried,  the  hopes  of  his  followers  seemed  to  perish : 
they  were  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  a  family  without  a  head : 
their  buoyant  hopes  had  been  blasted,  and,  filled  with  sorrow,  thev 
determined  to  return  to  their  former  avocations.  But  when  on 
the  third  morning  Christ  arose  from  the  dead  and  showed  himself 
to  his  disciples,  and  convinced  them  that  it  was  he,  and  that  he 
had  overcome  the  power  of  death  and  was  alive  again,  their  hopes 
revived  and  they  went  forth  with  strong  and  unwavering  faith  in 
his  Messiahship,  and  looked  forward  with  pleasing  anticipation  to 
the  glorious  rest  he  had  prepared  for  them  in  heaven. 

It  is  supposed  that  in  view  of  these  facts  St.  Peter  wrote  the 
words  of  the  text  that  we  have  selected  as  the  foundation  of  the 
discourse  at  the  present  hour:  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  halh  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively 
hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,"  etc. 

Whatever  may  have  been  in  the  mind  of  the  Apostle,  or  what, 
ever  may  have  stimulated  him  to  pen  these  words,  they  certainly, 
in  most  appropriate,  consoling  terms,  speak  of  the  hope  of  the 
Christian;  and  this  shall  be  the  theme  of  our  discourse, 

Hope!  what  is  it?     The  term  is  very  frequently  employed,  and 

(223) 


224  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

it  is  a  term  that  is  not  infrequently  misapplied.  It  really  signifies 
desire  and  expectation,  and  always  has  reference  to  something  fut- 
ure But  we  oftentimes  desire  that  which  we  do  not  expect  to 
attain,  therefore  we  can  not  hope  for  it.  We  may  expect  that 
which  we  do  not  desire;  for  this  we  do  not  hope.  But  when  we 
both  desire  and  expect  the  realization  of  some  future  good,  then 
we  hope  for  the  attainment  of  that  good.  The  Christian  desires 
the  resurrection  of  the  body,  the  immortality  of  the  soul;  he  de- 
sires to  live  in  the  enjoyment  of  God's  favor,  and  expects,  when  his 
pilgrimage  on  earth  shall  end,  to  make  one  of  the  redeemed,  and 
hopes  to  share  the  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  God  in  heaven. 
But  this  hope,  that  it  may  give  real  comfort  to  the  Christian, 
must  have  ground  upon  which  to  rest. 

Every  Christian  should  be  ready  to  give  a  reason  of  the  hope 
that  is  within  him.  What,  therefore,  are  the  grounds  of  hope  to 
the  Christian?  Why  does  he  desire  and  expect  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  and  everlasting  life  after  death?  Has  he  any  reason- 
able ground  on  which  to  entertain  these  delightful  views,  these 
glorious  anticipations?  We  answer  that  he  has  a  strong  founda- 
tion, a  sure  base,  on  which  to  build  these  desires,  these  expectations. 

He  believes  in  the  resurrection  cf  the  body,  the  certainty  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Jesus  Christ  i-ose 
from  the  dead.  If  Christ  be  not  risen,  the  dead  -will  rise  not;  and 
if  the  dead  rise  not,  our  preaching  is  vain  and  your  faith  is  vain, 
and  we  are  yet  in  our  sins  and  are  found  false  witnesses  before 
God.  But  if  Christ  did  rise  from  the  dead,  if  he  did  take  human- 
ity to  heaven,  if  he  did  carry  his  crucified  and  risen  body  to  the 
right  hand  of  the  Father,  and  thus  became  the  first-fruits  of  them 
that  slept,  then  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  those  who  sleep  in 
Jesus  God  will  bring  with  him.  But  questions  preceding  this  arise 
in  our  minds:  Did  Christ  die?  did  the  Son  of  God  veil  himself 
in  the  body  of  the  flesh,  lead  a  life  of  toil  and  labor  and  useful- 
ness and  of  great  notoriety?  and  was  he  put  to  death?  Did  he 
die  on  the  cross  as  a  malefactor?  was  he  crucified?  did  he  yield 
up  his  spirit?  was  he  buried  in  Joseph's  tomb?  did  he  come  forth 
from  the  tomb  the  third  morning?  does  he  live  again?  and  is  he 
making  intercession  for  his  saints  at  the  right  hand  of  God? 
These  are  important  questions,  and  demand  a  sincere  and  satis- 
factory answer.  We  are  not  dependent  upon  the  records  of  Mat- 
thew, Mark,  Luke,  and  John  alone  for  the  history  of  the  life  and  la- 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE.  225 

bors  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God.  That  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was 
born  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  days  of  the  Caesars, 
that  he  grew  up  to  manhood,  that  he  preached  in  the  temple  and 
in  the  synagogue  and  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  in  the  land  of 
Judea  and  throughout  Galilee,  and  wrought  many  notable  mir- 
acles and  attracted  great  attention  of  multitudes  of  people,  both 
learned  and  illiterate,  rich  and  poor,  can  not  be  doubted  at  all. 
We  have  just  as  authentic  information  of  the  history  of  the  life 
of  Christ  and  of  the  notoriety  of  the  Nazarene,  as  he  was  called 
in  the  days  of  the  Caesars,  as  we  have  of  any  other  event  of  im- 
portance in  those  ancient  times.  Jewish  history  and  Roman  his- 
tory, and  the  traditions  of  the  ancients  that  came  from  the  fathers 
in  the  beginning  of  the  first  century,  go  to  testify  that  Jesus,  the 
son  of  Mary  and  the  Son  of  God,  lived  and  preached  in  the  city 
of  Jerusalem,  and  died  within  the  outer  Avails  of  that  great  city. 

His  trial  was  official.  He  was  brought  before  Pilate,  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  province;  he  was  accused,  witnesses  were  introduced, 
a  formal  investigation  ensued.  He  was  then  sent  to  Herod,  who 
was  still  king  with  subordinate  power;  by  Herod  he  was  examined, 
and  then  sent  back  to  Pilate.  Pilate,  after  testifying  to  his  inno- 
cence and  purity  of  character,  affirmed  that  he  found  nothing  in 
him  worthy  of  death,  yet  consented  to  his  execution,  signed  the 
death-warrant,  and  handed  him  over  to  the  officers  to  be  put  to 
death  according  to  the  law.  Above  his  head  was  written  in  Greek 
and  Latin  and  Hebrew,  "This  is  Jesus,  the  King  of  the  Jews;" 
and  when  he  was  requested  to  alter  the  superscription  and  write 
"  He  said,  I  am  the  King  of  the  Jews,"  Pilate  answered,  "  What  I 
have  written,  I  have  written."  All  this  trial  and  this  condemna- 
tion and  this  crucifixion  and  his  burial  were  official  transactions, 
known  to  the  citizens  of  Jerusalem,  and  published  abroad  everv- 
where  throughout  the  civilized  world;  and  no  man,  Jew  or  Gen- 
tile, Christian  or  heathen,  pretends  to  doubt  the  fact  that  these 
scenes  of  the  suffering  of  the  Son  of  God  were  endured  in  the 
days  of  Pilate  by  the  son  of  Mary,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

From  the  grave  he  rose  the  third  morning  and  was  seen  by  the 
disciples,  talked  with  them,  ate  with  them,  and  at  twelve  different 
times  appeared  in  his  risen  form  in  such  manner  as  to  remove  all 
doubt  as  to  his  identity.  His  disciples  went  abroad,  having  seen 
the  Christ,  testifying  to  the  world  that  God  had  raised  him  from 
the  dead.  Finally  he  was  seen  of  Stephen,  when  he  was  stoned 
15 


JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


to  death ;  kneeling  down,  he  looked  up  to  heaven  and  said,  "  I 
see  Jesus  standing  at  the  right  hand  of  God,"  and  committed  his 
spirit  into  the  hands  of  the  risen  Saviour.  He  was  seen  by  Paul, 
the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  who  was  caught  up  to  the  third 
heaven  and  saw  things  unlawful  for  man  to  utter,  but  affirmed 
that  he  saw  the  risen  Saviour,  who  was  living  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Father.  Again  this  risen  Saviour  lives  in  the  heart  of  every 
genuine  believer.  Whosoever  believes  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ 
has  the  witness  in  himself,  and  can  say  with  the  ancient  patriarchy 
"'  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth.'  I  have  the  consciousness 
in  my  heart  that  the  life  I  live  is  a  life  of  faith,  that  it  is  no  more 
I  that  liveth,  but  Christ  that  liveth  in  me." 

Now,  then,  Christ  having  risen  from  the  dead,  and  the  question 
of  his  resurrection  being  forever  settled  in  the  mind  of  the  gen- 
uine Christian,  he  believes  that  those  who  sleep  in  Jesus  God  will 
bring  with  him ;  that  all  they  that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear 
the  voice  of  the  Son  of  man  and  shall  come  forth;  that  this 
mortal  shall  put  on  immortality,  and  this  corruptible  incorruption, 
and  death  shall  be  swallowed  up  in  victory,  and  bodies  redeemed, 
like  the  crucified  body  of  the  Son  of  God,  shall  be  admitted  into 
everlasting  habitations,  there  to  join  with  the  multitudes  that  sing 
unto  Him  that  hath  loved  us  and  hath  washed  us  from  our  sins 
in  his  own  blood — to  him  be  glory  forever. 

But  we  now  proceed  to  look  at  the  next  grand  pillar  that  sup- 
ports the  truth  of  this  doctrine  that  constitutes  the  broad  founda- 
tion on  which  the  hope  of  the  Christian  rests:  "  Blessed  be  the 
God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  begotten  us 
again  unto  a  lively  hope."  Here  you  perceive  that  there  is  some- 
thing more  to  be  wrought  in  the  soul  than  the  mere  faith  in  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God.  The  idea  is  that  we 
are  to  be  born  again  and  conformed  to  the  image  of  our  risen 
Lord.  All  men  will  be  raised  at  the  last  day,  but  some  will  come 
forth  to  a  resurrection  of  damnation ;  it  is  only  a  special  or  pe- 
culiar class  that  will  rise  to  a  resurrection  of  life.  Christ  says, 
«l  Except  a  man  be  born  again  he  can  not  see  the  kingdom  of 
God."  The  text  says,  "  We  are  begotten  again  unto  a  lively  hope." 
Mr.  Wesley  translates  it,  "We  are  regenerated  and  made  new 
creatures  in  Christ  Jesus  by  the  power  of  the  Hoi}-  Ghost,  thus 
becoming  the  sons  of  God."  The  idea  of  the  Apostle  is  the  ten- 
der relation  existing  between  the  father  and  child ;  we  are  to  be- 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE.  227 

come  children  of  God  by  the  new  birth,  by  the  regenerating 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  we  are  to  be  changed  in  our  moral 
nature,  transformed  into  the  likeness  and  image  of  Christ.  Un- 
less this  change  is  wrought  in  the  soul,  and  unless  this  glorious 
transformation  is  brought  about  in  our  moral  and  spiritual  char- 
acter, we  have  no  well-grounded  hope  of  future  happiness.  Man 
may  desire  to  be  happy,  may  desire  to  escape  the  sorrows  of  death, 
may  desire  to  enter  upon  the  joys  of  the  glorified ;  but  he  has  no 
well-grounded  hope  of  entering  into  those  joys  until  he  is  born 
again ;  born  from  above,  born  of  the  Spirit,  adopted  into  the  fam- 
ily of  Christ,  begotten  again  unto  this  lively  hope.  Wherever 
this  change  is  really  wrought  in  the  soul,  and  man  is  brought  into 
fellowship  with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  he  has 
the  witness  that  he  is  born  of  God.  Then  he  can  adopt  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Apostle  and  say,  "  Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively 
hope  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead."  Upon 
these  two  grand  pillars  rests  the  hope  of  the  Christian — the  res- 
urrection of  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  realization  in  our  hearts  that 
we  have  been  raised  to  newness  of  life  in  him ;  the  life  we  are 
now  living  is  a  life  of  faith  in  the  Son  of  God.  We  come  now  to 
consider: 

The  Nature  of  This  Hope. — It  is  called  by  the  apostle  "  a 
lively  hope;"  not  a  dead,  inactive,  joyless  hope,  but  a  living,  vital 
principle  in  the  soul,  imparting  vigor  to  the  mind,  and  creating 
exhilarating  joy  in  the  heart.  The  hope  of  the  Christian,  compre- 
hending a  desire  for  the  joys  of  the  celestial  world  and  expecting 
the  realization  of  the  promise  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  creates 
a  lively  emotion  in  the  soul,  which  enables  the  Christian  to  know 
by  happy  experience  that  if  the  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle 
were  dissolved  he  has  a  building  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens.  Being  conscious  of  his  acceptance  with  God,  he  re- 
joices with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

The  Christian  religion  does  not  consist  in  mere  forms  and  cer- 
emonies and  outward  observances;  it  is  not  a  mere  ritualism,  but 
it  is  a  religion  of  the  heart.  It  sanctifies  the  affections,  elevates 
the  feelings,  imparts  joy  to  the  soul  because  the  believer  is  con- 
scious of  his  acceptance  with  God ;  consequently  he  has  in  him  a 
well  of  water  springing  up  into  everlasting  life,  and  his  joy  in  re- 
ligion enables  him  to  triumph  in  the  God  of  his  salvation  and  tc 


228  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

count  all  things  but  loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  In  a  word,  it  is  what  we  call  experience — 
a  glorious  realization  in  our  hearts  that  God's  Spirit  bears  witness 
with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of  God;  and  thus  being 
justified  by  faith  we  have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  by  whom  we  have  access  into  this  grace  wherein  we  stand 
and  rejoice  in  the  hope  of  the  glory  of  God ;  and  not  only  so,  but 
we  glory  in  tribulation  also,  knowing  that  tribulation  worketh  pa- 
tience, and  patience  experience,  and  experience  hope,  and  "hope 
maketh  not  ashamed,  because  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad  in 
our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  given  unto  us — a  joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory. 

The  Object  of  Hope. — We  hope  for  an  inheritance.  Here 
you  see  again  the  idea  carried  out  by  the  inspired  Apostle — the 
idea  of  sonship,  of  heirship. 

A  child  of  God  inherits  the  promised  good  that  awaits  him  in 
the  future.  It  is  not  to  be  anticipated  by  those  who  have  not  been 
born  again,  but  by  the  heirs  of  God  according  to  the  promise. 
The  legitimate  child  inherits  the  estate  of  his  father;  so  the  child 
of  God  inherits  the  blessings  that  are  promised.  It  is  not  given  to 
hypocrites.  It  is  not  given  to  the  unregenerate,  or  to  those  who 
are  strangers  and  aliens  from  God,  but  is  given  to  God's  children, 
to  those  who  have  been  born  of  the  Spirit,  to  those  who  have  been 
adopted  into  the  family  of  God,  to  those  who  are  heirs  of  the 
kingdom.  This  inheritance  is  described  as  "  incorruptible,  unde- 
fined, and  that  fadeth  not  away."  It  is  undefined,  and  therefore  it 
is  incorruptible;  and  being  undefined  and  incorruptible,  it  shall 
never  fade  away.  All  the  pleasures  and  treasures  of  earth  are 
temporary,  evanescent,  passing  away,  withering  as  the  grass,  and 
all  glory  of  man  as  the  flower  of  grass;  the  grass  withereth,  and 
the  flower  falleth  and  returns  to  dust.  So  the  pleasure  of  sin 
shall  perish  and  fade  and  wither  as  the  grass  of  the  field,  as  leaves 
of  the  forest;  because  all  things  in  this  life  are  defiled,  and  the 
earth  itself  was  cursed  for  man's  sake;  thorns  and  briers  and  nox- 
ious weeds  it  brings  forth,  and  it  is  in  the  sweat  of  his  face  that 
he  makes  the  bread  upon  which  he  lives,  and  then  his  brightest 
hopes  go  down  to  the  dust  like  his  own  putrid  flesh ;  but  the  in- 
heritance of  the  saints  in  heaven,  being  pure,  undefiled,  unstained, 
incorrupt  by  sin,  will  know  no  depreciation,  no  decay,  no  death, 
no  end.     The  soul  will  spring  into  immortal  youth,  and  all  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE.  229 

joys  of  paradise  will  be  as  an  ever-blooming  garden  of  Eden  be- 
fore it  was  cursed  by  sin.  "There,"  as  we  ofttimes  sing,  "ever- 
lasting spring  abides,  and  never- withering  flowers."  Every  thing 
on  the  earth  has  been  cursed  because  of  man's  sin.  In  paradise, 
before  man  violated  God's  law,  all  was  pure,  all  was  bright,  all 
was  beautiful ;  but  sin  entered  and  drove  man  out  of  his  original 
Eden.  All  earth  was  cursed  for  his  sake ;  and  now,  amidst  toil 
and  strife,  many  disappointments  and  losses,  and  a  thousand  cares, 
he  must  work  his  way  through  his  earthly  pilgrimage,  and  finally 
he  drops  into  the  tomb  and  is  closed  from  life  forever ;  but  in  heav- 
en, that  pure  world,  that  city  of  our  God,  that  home  of  the  faithful, 
he  shall  live  forever,  free  from  turmoil  and  free  from  death. 
This  is  a  reserved  inheritance ;  it  is  kept  for  you ;  it  is  reserved 
and  kept  in  store  for  those  who  are  faithful ;  for  those  who  are  kept 
by  the  power  of  God  through  faith  unto  salvation,  ready  to  be  re- 
vealed at  the  last  time. 

This  is  the  glorious  inheritance  of  which  the  Apostle  speaks, 
and  shall  be  the  crowning  glory  of  all  of  God's  children  who  have 
been  made  pure  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewal  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  who  have  continued  steadfast  to  the  end. 

The  Source  of  This  Hope. — All  this  rich  inheritance  is  of 
grace,  of  the  mercy  of  God,  of  the  abundant  mercy  of  God — that 
mercy  manifested  in  the  gift  of  his  Son,  who  himself  counted  not 
his  own  life  dear  to  him,  but  according  to  the  will  of  the  Father, 
by  his  own  voluntary  action,  laid  down  his  life  to  redeem  a  sinful 
and  ruined  world.  Sinners  are  saved  by  God's  mercy.  There  is 
no  salvation  by  good  works — no  inheritance  enjoyed  as  a  reward 
of  our  virtue  separate  and  distinct  from  the  great  scheme  of 
redemption.  Man  owes  all  to  God,  all  to  God  through  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  the  gift  of  the  Father's  love;  who  suffered,  the  just 
for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  to  God.  It  is  to  this 
abundant  mercy  that  we  are  indebted  for  that  hope,  that  pre- 
cious hope,  that  lively  hope  that  stimulates  us  in  the  conflicts  of 
life  and  enables  us  to  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  a  brighter  and 
better  home  in  heaven. 

St.  Peter,  filled  with  a  sense  of  God's  goodness,  and  over- 
whelmed by  his  inspiration  of  mercy,  introduces  this  passage  by 
a  note  of  praise:  "Blessed  be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ!"  Praise  to  his  name!  Honor  and  majesty  and 
power  and  adoration  be  unto  him  whose  mercy  endureth  forever", 


230  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

and  who  in  his  abundant  goodness  redeemed  a  lost  and  ruined 
race  by  the  death  of  his  only  begotten  Son!  We  should  all  join 
with  the  Apostle  in  the  language  of  inspiration,  and  say:  "Blessed 
be  the  God  and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  according 
to  his  abundant  mercy  hath  begotten  us  again  unto  a  lively  hope 
by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead,  to  an  inherit- 
ance incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved 
in  heaven  for  you,  who  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God  through 
faith  unto  salvation  ready  to  be  revealed  at  the  last  time." 

And  now  we  come  to  apply  this  subject  to  our  friend  and  dis- 
tinguished fellow-citizen  whose  remains  lie  before  us  incased  and 
ready  for  interment. 

Mr.  Polk,  as  we  have  seen,  seemed  almost  a  man  of  destiny. 
His  success  in  life  was  remarkable.  lie  was  modest,  cultivated, 
high-toned  in  his  morals,  a  man  of  untarnished  reputation,  and 
was  loved  and  admired  by  all  classes  of  his  countrymen.  Against 
his  moral  character  no  charge  was  ever  brought.  No  man  in  the 
United  States,  filling  the  high  offices  that  he  has  occupied,  ever 
maintained  a  purer  character  for  sound  morality.  His  Christian 
principles  were  genuine ;  his  belief  in  God  and  the  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  was  firm,  unshaken.  He  always  had  the 
highest  respect  for  the  Christian  religion,  and  always  exhibited 
reverence  for  the  house  of  God  and  the  institutions  of  the  gospel. 
He  was  a  regular  attendant  at  public  worship,  and  observed  the 
Christian  Sabbath  with  great  punctuality.  In  all  his  demeanor, 
during  the  time  of  his  presidential  administration,  he  maintained 
the  character  of  a  Christian  gentleman  and  paid  due  respect  to 
the  institutions  of  our  holy  religion. 

He  was  brought  up  by  a  Christian  mother,  who  early  trained 
him  in  the  doctrines  and  duties  of  Christianity.  She  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  On  one  occasion  she  took  her 
infant  son  to  the  church  to  have  him  dedicated  to  God  in  holy 
baptism,  but  through  some  misunderstanding  between  his  father 
and  the  pastor  in  charge,  in  regard  to  the  rules  and  regulations  of 
the  congregation,  it  was  deferred,  and  he  reached  maturity  without 
having  received  the  ordinance  of  baptism. 

He  was  a  Wesleyan  in  sentiment,  and  believed  in  the  doctrine 
and  polity  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  His  wife,  an  in- 
telligent Christian  woman, was  also  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church ;  but  it  was  understood  by  her,  as  well  as  by  Mr.   Polk 


THE  CHRISTIAN'S  HOPE.  231 

himself,  that  he  was  a  Methodist  in  his  views,  and  from  the  year 
1833  he  determined  that  when  he  joined  the  Church  he  would  con- 
nect himself  with  that  organization. 

On  his  return  from  Washington  in  1849  he  determined  to  make 
Nashville  his  permanent  home,  and  for  a  time  he  was  busily  em- 
ployed in  fitting  up  his  residence.  His  health  was  feeble,  but  he 
hoped  that  rest  from  political  labors  and  the  recreation  of  prepar- 
ing his  mansion  for  occupancy  would  soon  restore  him.  But  com- 
ing home  through  cholera  atmosphere,  he  seemed  to  some  extent 
affected  by  the  poison  of  that  malignant  disease,  and  was  soon 
brought  to  his  room  and  to  his  bed.  Early  in  his  sickness  he  sent 
for  Rev.  Dr.  Edgar — his  wife's  pastor,  who  had  charge  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  this  city — and  your  speaker,  and  had  a  free 
religious  conversation  with  them,  and  thejr  joined  him  in  prayer 
and  supplication,  and  asked  God  in  his  providence  to  restore  him 
to  health ;  and  in  any  event,  whether  for  life  or  for  death,  that 
he  might  be  taken  under  special  guardianship  of  his  heavenly 
Father  and  prepared  for  the  great  future,  as  well  as  for  the  respon- 
sibilities of  the  present  life.  Soon  after,  he  sought  a  private  in- 
terview with  your  speaker,  and  made  known  to  him  his  desire  and 
purpose  to  receive  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  and  to  be  admitted 
into  the  communion  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  to  re- 
ceive the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's-supper,  and  thus  identify  him- 
self with  the  Church  of  his  choice.  He  said:  "My  mother  is 
a  Presbyterian,  and  I  love  her  and  respect  her  pastor;  my  wife 
is  a  Presbyterian,  for  whom  I  have  the  fondest  affection  as  a 
Christian,  and  her  pastor  is  a  man  whom  I  respect,  and  I  respect 
the  Presbyterian  Church ;  but  I  am  a  Methodist,  and  desire  to 
identify  myself  with  the  Methodist  Church,  and  I  have  sent  for 
you  as  my  old  friend,  with  whom  I  have  long  been  acquainted, 
and  desire  that  you  shall  administer  the  ordinance  of  baptism  and 
receive  me  into  the  Church  and  give  me  the  emblems  of  the 
broken  body  and  shed  blood  of  Jesus  Christ."  In  due  time  his 
wishes  were  met,  and  in  the  presence  of  his  family,  and  of  the 
pastor  of  his  mother  and  his  wife,  and  other  friends,  he  was  bap- 
tized, admitted  into  the  Church,  and  received  the  hoi}  commun- 
ion. His  faith  was  strong,  his  confidence  unbounded,  and  he  was 
brought  into  fellowship  with  the  Church  after  strong  assurances 
of  his  belief  in  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  He 
said  to  his  brother  William:  « I  am  now  about  to  join  the  Churcb 


232  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

a  duty  that  I  long  since  should  have  performed,  and  that  long  ago 
I  made  up  my  mind  to  perform,  but  in  the  hurry  of  the  business 
of  life  and  the  political  affairs  of  the  country  I  postponed  it  till 
now.  But  I  go  forward  in  the  name  of  my  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ,  who  I  hope  and  believe  has  pardoned  all  my  sins  and 
washed  me  from  all  my  iniquities."  Upon  this  confession  he 
was  baptized  and  received  into  the  Church,  had  his  name  en- 
rolled upon  the  Church  Register,  and  thus  died  in  full  fellowship 
with  the  McKendree  Church  of  this  city.  Such  in  brief  is  the 
religious  life  and  experience  of  the  Honorable  James  K.  Polk — a 
man  whom  we  all  loved,  and  whose  death  we  all  mourn  this 'day, 
and  whose  departure  will  be  regretted  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  this  great  land. 

During  this  year  McFerrin  had  what  he  termed  u  a 
little  discussion"  with  Dr.  Patton,  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopalian,  published  at  Knoxville,  Tennessee.  Some 
one  charged  the  Methodists  with  Toryism  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  he  warmly  repelled  the  accu- 
sation. He  had  also  "a  little  turn"  with  the  Methodist 
Expositor  and  the  Southern  Methodist  Pulpit.  These 
contests  seemed  to  him  necessary,  and  he  mentions  in 
connection  with  them  that  the  Christian  Advocate  still 
lived  and  grew  in  favor  with  the  people. 

In  the  year  1875  McFerrin* wrote  down  some  mem- 
oiabilia  of  his  life  during  a  period  of  great  interest — 
from  1S49  to  1878 — extracts  from  which  are  given  here. 

The  narrative  is  a  little  broken,  being  the  crowding 
memories  of  a  busy  old  man  reviewing  events  in  Church 
and  State  that  were  startlingly  rapid  in  their  evolution 
and  tremendous  in  their  consequences.  The  kind  reader 
who  follows  him  will  get  a  contemporaneous  glimpse  of 
a  vast,  shifting  panorama  from  a  man  who  had  eyes  in 
his  head  and  was  not  tongue-tied. 


THE  FIRST  PERSON  SINGULAR. 


AT  the  Tennessee  Conference  for  this  year  (1849)  Ave  had  Bislu 
ops  Soule  and  Capers  as  presiding  officers.  Bishop  Soule, 
however,  was  in  feeble  health,  and  most  of  the  labor  was  per- 
formed by  Bishop  Capers.  He  gave  general  satisfaction ;  indeed,  he 
was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  gentlemen  and  eloquent  preach- 
ers America  ever  produced.  The  Conference  was  a  delightful 
season  of  refreshing.     Sinners  were  converted  and  saints  rejoiced. 

Delegates  to  the  General  Conference,  which  was  to  meet  in  May, 
1850,  were  elected.  The  following  were  chosen:  J.  B.  McFerrin, 
F.  E.  Pitts,  Thomas  W.  Randle,  A.  L.  P.  Green,  M.  M.  Henkle, 
J.  W  Hanner,  Edward  Wadsworth,  J.  F.  Hughes,  G.  W.  Mar- 
tin, and  W.  D.  F.  Sawrie. 

At  this  Conference  resolutions  were  adopted  warmly  commend- 
ing the  Christian  Advocate  and  Ladies^  Companion.,  and  asking  the 
General  Conference  to  locate  a  Publishing  House  for  the  Church 
in  the  city  of  Nashville.  The  Advocate  paid  this  year  a  handsome 
dividend  to  the  several  Conferences  sustaining  it. 

On  my  return  I  left  Nashville  for  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi, 
the  seat  of  the  Memphis  Conference.  I  made  the  trip  by  watel 
to  Memphis,  thence  by  stage  to  Holly  Springs.  Bishop  Capers 
presided.  The  Conference  was  remarkably  pleasant.  The  mis- 
sionary anniversary  was  a  success.  Bishop  Capers  made  a  fine 
address.  I  followed.  Collection  over  $1,000.  Holly  Springs  at 
that  time  was  a  beautiful  and  growing  town,  full  of  hospitality, 
and  entertained  the  Conference  in  fine  style. 

In  the  month  of  January  of  this  year  (1850)  I  visited  the  Ala- 
bama Conference,  which  convened  at  Columbus,  Mississippi,  on 
Wednesday,  the  16th.  Bishop  Capers  presided,  assisted  by  Bishop 
Paine.  I  made  the  trip  to  Columbus  on  horseback — two  hundred 
and  forty  miles — in  company  with  Maj.  II.  P.  Bostick  and  the  Rev. 
E.  H.  Hatcher.  The  weather  was  unpleasant  and  the  roads  rough, 
yet  we  had  a  pleasant  and  safe  trip. 

In  all  my  controversies  I  seldom  came  in  contact  with  ministers 

(233) 


234  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

or  members  of  our  own  Church.  Sometimes,  however,  it  was 
necessary  to  have  sharp  contests  even  with  brethren  beloved. 
When  such  conflicts  are  necessary,  they  should  be  conducted  in 
the  spirit  of  Christian  meekness.  A  man's  personal  religious  en- 
joyment depends  much  on  the  spirit  with  which  he  meets  the  com- 
mon conflicts  of  life  and  the  manner  in  which  he  performs  his 
work  before  the  public.  And  surely  the  honor  of  our  holy  Chris- 
tianity should  lead  all  public  men,  and  especially  all  ministers,  to 
conduct  themselves  with  great  propriety.  I  always  found  that, 
to  discharge  my  duties  faithfully  and  successfully,  much  prayer 
was  essential.  Amidst  all  my  duties  I  tried  to  keep  up  the  spirit 
and  practice  of  godliness.  Family  prayer  I  never  neglected. 
Secret  prayer  was  my  daily  habit;  and  as  for  preaching,  I  did 
much  of  that — not  only  on  Sundays,  but  during  the  week,  at  fu- 
nerals and  at  protracted  meetings.  Thank  God!  religion  was  to 
me  a  great  comfort  in  all  my  trials  and  labors. 

The  session  of  the  General  Conference  of  1850  was  remarka- 
ble for  its  brevity,  mainly  on  account  of  the  prevalence  of  cholera 
in  St.  Louis.  I  was  on  the  Committee  on  Itinerancy,  and  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Revisal.  Amidst  all  the  sickness  I 
kept  entirely  well,  having  had  during  the  whole  time  no  symptoms 
of  the  disease  prevailing  in  the  city. 

The  election  of  Dr.  Bascom  to  the  office  of  Bishop  was  one  of 
the  important  occurrences  of  the  session.  He  was  ordained  after 
a  great  sermon  delivered  by  himself.  He  lived  to  preside  only  at 
one  Conference,  and  then  fell  in  the  prime  and  vigor  of  his  man- 
hood. Dr.  Bascom  was  a  great  preacher  and  a  man  of  masterly 
intellect.  I  was  re-elected  editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate,  and 
Dr.  Ilenkle  was  elected  editor  of  the  Ladies'  Companion.  On  the 
31st  of  May  I  made  my  introduction  for  a  new  term  of  fouryears, 
having  edited  the  paper  and  managed  its  finances  for  ten  years. 
Dr.  Henkle  now  became  sole  editor  of  the  Ladies'  Companion., 
though  it  was  still  printed  at  the  Advocate  office. 

Soon  after  the  General  Conference  had  adjourned  a  prospectus 
was  issued  for  the  publication  of  a  paper  at  Memphis.  This 
called  forth  an  editorial  on  the  multiplication  of  papers,  which  is 
found  in  the  Nashville  Christian  Advocate  of  June  28.  In  that 
editorial  I  expressed  myself  freely,  and  delivered  thoughts  and 
made  predictions  of  which  I  am  not  ashamed  now  after  a  lapse  of 
twenty-five  years.     It  was  a  sad  mistake  when  the  friends  of  the 


THE  FIRST  PERSON  SINGULAR.  235 

Church  in  the  South  resolved  to  increase  the  number  of  their 
weekly  journals  to  so  large  an  extent.  I  say  nothing  against  the 
worthy  brethren  who  conduct  these  papers.  They  are  good  men 
and  true;  but  it  is  simply  absurd  to  suppose  a  newspaper  can  be 
made  a  first-class  publication  without  capital.  And  I  wish  here 
and  now  to  record  the  fact  that  I  have  always  opposed  the  multi- 
plication of  papers  in  our  Church,  and  also  of  schools  and  colleges 
under  our  supervision.  An  ably  conducted  religious  journal  is  a 
great  auxiliary  to  the  pulpit,  and  a  grand  help  in  pushing  forward 
the  cause  of  Christ  among  men;  but  alas!  oftentimes  they  become 
instruments  of  evil.  After  many  years'  experience,  I  am  fully  of 
opinion  that  the  most  important  thing  in  conducting  a  religious 
paper  is  to  know  what  to  keep  out  of  its  columns.  It  requires 
sound  judgment,  good  taste,  and  a  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
as  well  as  learning  and  general  intelligence,  to  make  a  good  and 
popular  paper. 

In  June  and  July  of  this  year  the  cholera  prevailed  again  in 
Nashville  to  an  alarming  extent.  Many  persons  died,  but  it  was 
most  fatal  among  the  colored  people.  Several  citizens  of  promi- 
nence were  its  victims — among  the  rest  our  principal  clerk  and 
book-keeper,  Col.  John  McClellan.  He  died  on  the  4th  of  July 
He  was  a  noble  man.  Finely  cultivated,  with  a  heart  warm  with 
benevolence  and  a  soul  full  of  wit  and  good  humor,  he  was  a  great 
favorite  with  those  who  knew  him.  Withal,  he  was  a  devout 
Christian  and  an  ardent  Methodist.     I  greatly  deplored  his  loss. 

In  September,  in  company  with  Bishop  Soule,  I  attended  the 
Louisville  Conference,  at  Greensburg,  Kentucky,  where  we  met 
Bishop  Andrew.  Bishop  Soule  was  not  in  good  health,  though 
he  stood  the  trip  (stage-riding)  very  well  indeed. 

On  the  8th  of  this  month  (September)  Bishop  Bascom  died  at 
the  house  of  the  Rev.  E.  Stevenson,  Louisville,  Kentucky.  At 
the  Greensburg  Conference  we  met  his  brethren,  who  sorely  la- 
mented his  death  and  gave  us  many  particulars  of  his  last  illness 
and  his  victory  over  the  fear  of  the  last  enemy. 

The  Tennessee  Conference  met  this  year  at  Athens,  Alabama, 
Bishop  Capers  presiding.  I  was  providentially  hindered;  the  first 
that  I  had  failed  to  attend  since  I  was  admitted  on  trial. 

The  autumn  of  this  year  was  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the 
Christian  Advocate.  In  the  meantime  I  preached  a  great  deal  ard 
strove  to  cultivate  personal  piety. 


236  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

The  Louisville  and  Kentucky  Conferences  became  satisfied  that 
they  could  not  sustain  the  Louisville  Christian  Advocate  without 
pecuniary  loss;  hence  it  was  proposed  to  merge  it  into  the  Nash- 
ville paper,  and  to  call  the  consolidated  sheet  the  Nashville  and 
Louisville  Christian  Advocate.  To  this  proposition  the  Book 
Agents  and  Publishing  Committees  of  both  papers  agreed,  and 
the  union  was  made,  which  took  effect  January,  1851.  The  Lou- 
isville department  was  to  have  an  editor  who  should  act  as  a  cor- 
responding or  associate  editor.  The  paper  was  still  to  be  pub- 
lished at  Nashville,  and  I  had  charge  of  its  finances.  Those 
representing  the  Louisville  department  selected  the  Rev.  C.  B. 
Parsons  as  the  Louisville  editor.  Enlarging  our  paper  and  pro- 
curing soon  thereafter  new  type  and  a  fine  Hoe's  power-press 
from  New  York,  we  began  Vol.  XV.  under  favorable  auspices. 

Dr.  Parsons  was  a  popular  preacher,  and  it  was  hoped  he  would 
make  a  useful  and  successful  editor.  He  had  been,  long  before 
his  conversion,  a  stage  actor;  but,  having  abandoned  the  stage,  he 
entered  the  ministry  and  became  a  very  popular  preacher.  He 
was  a  man  of  commanding  talents  and  popular  pulpit  style;  was 
a  little  fickle,  and  in  after  years  he  united  with  the  Northern 
Methodist  Church.  He  died  a  few  years  afterward.  He  still  had 
a  warm  heart  for  the  Southern  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and 
his  family  continued  therein.  I  think  Dr.  Parsons  was  a  good 
man,  and  I  hope  he  died  at  peace  with  God.  He  and  I  were  al- 
ways on  good  terms.  Stability,  firmness,  settled  principles  are 
great  things  in  a  Christian,  and  especially  a  Christian  minister. 

I  now  had  eleven  years'  experience  in  conducting  the  paper  ed- 
itorially and  financially.  Five  years  I  had  had  the  help  of  Dr. 
Henkle,  but  the  other  six  I  had  managed  it  alone ;  and  while  he 
aided  me  I  gave  a  portion  of  my  time  to  the  Ladies'  Companion. 

When  I  was  first  elected  editor  we  had  no  patronage  worth 
naming  north  of  Tennessee.  When,  however,  we  had  gained 
Kentucky  and  Missouri,  our  brethren  began  to  see  the  importance 
of  having  a  paper  on  the  border.  Hence,  as  I  have  elsewhere 
said,  the  Methodist  Expositor  was  set  up  in  Cincinnati,  then  trans- 
ferred to  Louisville,  and  now,  after  a  failure  at  Louisville,  it  was 
merged  into  the  Advocate  at  Nashville.  Now  all  this  cost  a  great 
deal ;  but  it  was  a  pleasure  to  me  to  know  that  among  these  in- 
terests and  failures  the  Nashville  Christian  Advocate  was  prosper- 
ous, and  continued  to  increase  its  circulation.     After  reviewing 


THE  FIRST  PERSON  SINGULAR.  237 


the  whole  history  of  our  publishing  enterprises,  and  now  after  a 
apse  of  many  y  ars,  I  am  surpnsed  at  the  suceess  tha  attended 
ourefforts.  I  was  young  (only  thirty-three  yearsof  age)  when  as- 
Zed  tothe  difficult  and  delieate  work  of  conducing  an  .mpor- 
taS  Church  journal.  I  had  no  experience  in  th.s  Ime  and  the 
bos  Less  of  the  office  was  financially  embarrassed.  Yet  Go  gave 
us  success.  Our  paper  grew  all  the  time  m  the  number  of  ub 
scribers  and  I  trust  in  influence.  In  the  issue  of  February  13 
made  another  appeal,  having  started  our  new  press  and  put  on  our 

ne7nTne  of  this  year,  I  preached,  by  request,  the  -nua,  sermon 
at  La  Grange  College,  Alabama.  I  traveled  from  Nashvdle  to 
La  Grangefn  a  buggy,  in  company  with  the  Rev  Joseph  Cross, 
who  was  then  stationed  at  McKendree,  m  th >«ty -of  »** 
We  were  three  days  on  our  journey,  and  reached  La  Grange- 
Saturday  evening,  the  7th.  On  the  8th  the  sermon  was  dehvereA 
The  Rev.  P.  P.  Neely  preached  in  the  afternoon,  and  Dr.  C.oss 

at  Ifthis  Commencement,  quite  to  my  surprise,  the  college  con- 
ferred on  me  the  honorary  degree  of  D.D.  This  is  a  "tie  to  wh.ch 
I  did  not  aspire.  I  felt  myself  unworthy  the  honor.  The  Re^ 
R  H  Rivers  had  the  same  degree  conferred  upon  him  at  the  same 
toe  Randolph-Macon  College,  in  Virginia,  honored  me  with 
thTsame  dem-ee  about  the  same  period,  neither  college  havmg any 
Lnowl  d~e  m  what  the  other  intended  to  do.  I  was  much  obhged 
I  hese  lo  institutions  for  their  good  feeling  and  for  the  honor, 
conferred ;  nevertheless,  these  favors  in  no  wrse  impressed  me  that 
I  mer  ted  such  distinction.  The  calling  and  work  of  Reader 
ofTgtfcl  I  esteem  the  highest  honor  ever  conferred  upon  mo, 

^'m  journey  with  Dr.  Cross  was  very  pleasant.  He  was  intel- 
Itoent  prightfy,  and  full  of  good  humor.  He  impressed  me  that 
he  was  a  Christian  in  experience  and  was  striving  to  be  one  m 
Practical  life.  I  have  no  reason  now  to  change  my  opinion,  not- 
Standing  Dr.  Cross  afterward,  and  often,  gave  evidence  of 

^"^"ithls  rear  I  visited  the  Louisville  Conference  at 
Elkton    Kentucky.     Bishop  Paine  presided.     The meeUne ;  wa 
one  of  interest.     From  this  Conference  I  returned    £*££ 
days  at  home,  and  proceeded  to  Lebanon,  the  seat  of  the  Tennes 


238  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

see  Conference.  Bishop  Paine  presided.  We  had  a  good  Con- 
ference, nothing  unusual  occurring  more  than  a  pleasant  season. 

In  the  month  of  November  I  visited  the  Memphis  Confer- 
ence at  Paducah,  Kentucky. 

While  we  were  rejoicing  in  our  prosperity  in  the  South,  the 
great  Church  suit  at  New  York  was  decided  in  our  favor.  This 
decision  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  South,  and  insured  to  our 
Church  the  means  of  prosecuting  ics  publishing  interest.  It  for  a 
time  quieted  the  public  mind,  and  seemed  to  put  an  end  to  the 
heated  discussion  of  the  questions  at  issue.  The  country  needed 
rest. 

On  January  8,  1852,  we  issued  the  first  sheet  of  our  paper.  No. 
2 — having  omitted  No.  1  for  Christmas  week — for  the  year  1852. 
Eleven  years  had  passed  since  my  connection  with  the  establish- 
ment. We  still  had  prosperity.  About  this  time  I  had  a  discus- 
sion with  a  Baptist  paper  published  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  on 
Methodist  Church  polity.  The  paper  made  the  oft-repeated 
charge  of  the  aristocratic  and  oppressive  character  of  our  Church 
government.  I  defended  my  Church,  of  course.  This  discussion 
was  lively,  and  extended  through  several  weeks.  About  those 
times  there  was  a  wonderful  disposition  to  assail  Methodist  doc- 
trines, Methodist  government  and  usages. 

In  March  we  held  a  grand  missionary  meeting  on  the  depart- 
ure of  the  Rev.  John  Matthews  as  a  missionary  to  California. 
During  this  year  I  dedicated  the  new  Methodist  Church  in  Mc- 
Minnville,  and  also  an  elegant  and  spacious  house  of  worship  in 
Pulaski.  This  was  a  new  house,  built  mainly  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  Thomas  Martin,  long  a  prosperous  and  wealthy  mer- 
chant in  Pulaski.  At  many  places  I  was  in  revivals  of  religion 
this  year,  and  enjoyed  the  preaching  of  the  word. 

This  year  the  Tennessee  Conference  met  at  Pulaski,  Bishop 
Andrew  presiding,  assisted  by  Bishop  Soule.  The  session  opened 
on  the  15th  of  October.  The  occasion  was  a  season  of  refreshing 
to  the  preachers  and  time  of  revival  in  the  Church.  Souls  were 
brought  to  Christ  and  a  deep  impression  was  made  on  the  public 
mind.  Dr.  Rosser,  of  the  Virginia  Conference,  was  with  us,  and 
preached  with  zeal.  During  this  year  Dr.  Latta,  of  Cincinnati, 
died.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  talents,  and  his  death  was  regarded 
as  a  great  loss  to  the  Church. 

I  had  occasion  to  note  this  year  the  resignation  of  Bishop  Ham- 


THE  FIRS 7  PERSON  SINGULAR.  239 

line,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  North.  This  was  the 
'first  instance  of  a  Bishop  resigning  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  Bishop  Hamline's  views  differed  from  those  of  the 
preachers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  His  pecul- 
iar notions  are  set  forth  in  his  speech  in  the  General  Conference 
of  1844,  wnere  he  represents  the  Bishop  as  a  moderator,  or  a  mere 
president  or  officer,  who  could  be  removed  with  or  without  a  cause, 
at  the  will  of  the  General  Conference. 

In  January,  1853,  we  began  a  new  volume  of  the  Advocate  un- 
der some  apprehensions.  Several  new  papers  had  been  started, 
and  I  feared  that  the  Church  would  suffer  by  too  great  a  draw 
upon  the  people.  Hence  in  February  I  wrote  several  articles  on 
the  publishing  interests  of  our  Connection.  These  articles  were 
not  well  received  in  certain  quarters.  Local  demands  were 
pleaded  and  local  prejudices  were  awakened.  Nothing  daunted, 
however,  I  stood  my  ground. 

We  all  mourned  the  death  of  the  Revs.  E.  H.  Hatcher  and  B. 
R.  Gant,  two  of  our  excellent  brethren  who  finished  their  work  in 
1853.  Gant  was  a  noble  Christian  man.  Hatcher  was  only  about 
thirty-five  years  old,  but  was  a  man  of  superior  gifts.  Very  few 
men  of  his  age  surpassed  him  in  "  gifts,  grace,  arfd  usefulness." 
He  is  buried  at  Columbia,  Tennessee.  In  the  Memphis  Confer- 
ence, too,  we  lost  two  highly  gifted  preachers  who  took  their  start 
in  the  Tennessee  Conference — the  Rev.  B.  H.  Hubbard,  D.D., 
and  the  Rev.  Wesley  Warren,  M.D.— both  eminent  preachers. 

About  this  time  we  had  a  great  excitement  on  the  subject  of 
temperance.  I  was  at  one  time  "  Grand  Worthy  Patriarch "  of 
the  State  of  Tennessee.  The  temperance  men  not  only  advocated 
total  abstinence,  but  the  passage  of  a  prohibitory  law.  I  made 
many  temperance  speeches  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  and  the 
cause  was  very  prosperous.  But  in  the  course  of  time  the  friends 
of  the  great  reform  gradually  cooled  in  their  zeal,  and  the  Order 
waned.  From  time  to  time  the  friends  rallied  and  made  new 
fights.  Much  good  was  done.  Some  drunkards  were  reformed, 
and  many  young  men  were  saved  from  plunging  into  hopeless 
dissipation.  Altogether  the  evils  of  drunkenness  can  never  be  es- 
timated, and  every  true  philanthropist  and  every  genuine  patriot 
should  stand  against  the  flood  of  ruin  that  seems  at  times  to  sweep 
the  land.  Woe  to  the  miserable  drunkard,  and  woe  to  him  that 
for  gain  nutteth  the  bottle  to  his  neighbor's  mouth! 


240  JOHN  '&.  McFERRIN. 

On  the  4th  of  July  I  dedicated  a  new  church  called  "  Bethel," 
in  the  vicinity  of  Shelbyville,  Tennessee.  It  was  on  the  same 
ground  where  a  "meeting-house"  had  long  stood,  and  where 
much  good  had  been  accomplished.  It  was  called  "  Warm  Cor- 
ner" because  of  the  zeal  of  its  members.  Nearby  lived  the  Rev. 
William  Mullens,  once  a  traveling  preacher,  a  man  of  zeal  and 
great  usefulness.  In  the  evening  I  preached  at  Shelbyville,  and 
reached  home  on  Monday. 

Church  dedications,  funeral  sermons,  and  temperance  speeches 
occupied  much  of  my  time.  In  the  camp-meeting  season  I  vis- 
ited many  of  these  popular  gatherings,  and  labored  with  as  much 
earnestness  and  zeal  as  my  time  would  allow.  My  health  was 
generally  fine.  I  had  a  powerful  constitution,  and  could  work 
and  travel,  preach  and  write,  visit  the  sick,  and  keep  up  the  finances 
of  the  office,  and  experience  but  little  weariness.  I  was  seldom 
tired  in  those  days;  my  physical  vigor  never  flagged.  We  had  a 
visit  from  Dr.  Means,  of  Georgia,  this  year,  which  gave  us  much 
satisfaction.     Nashville  in  those  days  was  a  place  of  great  resort. 

This  year  was  one  of  great  distress  in  the  South,  especially  in 
New  Orleans,  on  account  of  the  yellow  fever,  which  prevailed  to 
an  alarming  extent.  We  lost  some  of  our  Nashville  friends  who 
had  settled  in  New  Orleans  and  Mississippi.  Among  these  was 
II.  R.  W.  Hill,  long  a  resident  of  Tennessee,  a  prince  in  liberality 
and  a  life-long  Methodist.  He  united  with  the  Church  when  he 
was  quite  a  young  man.  His  excellent  wife  had  preceded  him  to 
the  grave.  The  cause  of  Missions  about  this  time  was  exciting 
much  interest.  Bishop  Soule  had  visited  California  and  given  the 
work  a  new  impetus  in  that  new  field.  Dr.  Jenkins,  from  China, 
with  a  live  Chinaman  in  his  company,  visited  Nashville  and  many 
of  the  Conferences;  and  D.  C.  Kelley  was  set  apart  as  a  mission- 
ary to  China.  The  collections  were  large,  and  the  people  enthu- 
siastic at  the  prospect  of  success. 

In  September  I  left  home  for  Versailles,  the  seat  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Conference.  On  my  way  I  called  at  Frankfort  Kentucky, 
the  capital  of  the  State,  and  visited  the  cemetery  where  many 
of  the  sons  of  the  "dark  and  bloody  ground" — as  Kentucky  was 
once  called — sleep  in  death.  There  rest  the  remains  of  Col.  Dick 
Johnson,  once  Vice-president  of  the  United  States,  famous  for  hav- 
ing killed  the  great  Indian  chief  Tecumseh  in  a  single-handed 
combat.     There,  too,  are  buried  the  remains  of  the  great  pioneer 


THE  FIRST  PERSON  SINGULAR.  241 


Daniel  Boone,  and  his  wife.  I  saw  them  re-interred  some  time 
previous  while  attending  a  Conference  in  Frankfort.  I  was  in- 
debted to  Jacob  Swigert,  Esq.,  for  many  courtesies  at  Frankfort. 
Versailles  is  a  pleasant  town  in  the  heart  of  a  grand  country,  some 
twelve  miles  from  Lexington.  Bishop  Capers  presided  at  the 
Conference.  Here  I  heard  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Kavanaugh  preach  a 
funeral  sermon  in  memory  of  the  Rev.  William  Gunn.  The  effort 
was  a  great  one,  and  the  effect  was  wonderful.  On  Sunday  I 
went  to  Lexington,  with  the  Rev.  W.  C.  Dandy  and  Dr.  J.  H. 
Linn,  where  Dr.  L.  and  myself  preached  to  large  congregations. 
The  missionary  meeting  was  a  time  of  great  excitement.  Dr. 
Jenkins  and  his  Chinaman  were  on  hand,  and  wherever  John 
Chinaman  went  a  crowd  followed. 

On  my  return  I  spent  a  day  or  two  at  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
then,  as  now,  the  commercial  center  of  the  State.  I  visited  the 
cemetery,  and  saw  the  grave  of  Bishop  Bascom,  and  the  resting- 
place  of  others.     The  grounds  were  beautiful. 

In  company  with  Dr.  Parsons  (my  associate  editor),  Bishop 
Capers,  and  others,  I  went  by  steam-boat  to  Owensboro,  the  seat 
of  the  Louisville  Conference,  where  I  remained  till  it  closed.  The 
session  was  a  very  agreeable  one.  Bishop  Capers  preached  with 
great  power,  and  the  word  generally,  as  preached,  seemed  to  be  in 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  much  unction.  Here  I  preached  twice, 
and  made  a  missionary  address.     God  was  with  me  in  the  pulpit. 

From  Owensboro  Dr.  Parsons  and  myself  proceeded  by  the 
way  of  Smithland  to  Nashville  by  steam-boat.  We  met  with 
many  detentions  because  of  low  water,  fog,  etc.,  but  reached 
Nashville  on  Saturday,  and  I  found  my  family  in  health,  after  an 
absence  of  some  three  weeks. 

On  the  Sunday  after  our  arrival  Dr.  Parsons  dedicated  our 
new  church  in  Edgefield,  called  "  Hobson  Chapel,"  in  honor  of 
Mrs.  Hobson,  the  mother  of  Nicholas  Hobson,  who  gave  the  lot 
on  which  to  erect  the  building.  In  1849  I  had  removed  to  the 
country,  having  bought  a  house  and  lot  of  land  about  a  mile  and 
a  quarter  from  the  Public  Square.  Here  we  erected  a  church,  and 
Dr.  Parsons,  by  request,  came  to  dedicate  it  to  the  worship  of  God. 
The  crowd  on  Sunday  was  large,  and  the  Doctor  was  very  suc- 
cessful. The  remainder  of  the  debt  was  fully  provided  for.  The 
church  at  Hobson  Chapel  prospered  until  1862.  It  suffered  dur- 
ing the  war,  and  was  finally  sold  and  a  new  and  more  commodious 
16 


242  JOHN  B.  McFERRlN. 

house  was  erected,  bearing  the  same  name,  where,  at  the  time  of 
this  writing,  there  is  a  flourishing  little  congregation.  The  new 
house  is  farther  from  the  city. 

My  object  in  moving  out  of  the  city  was  to  provide  a  more 
rural  home  for  my  family  and  to  provide  especially  for  the  com- 
fort and  moral  training  of  my  servants.  My  slaves  were  family 
servants.  I  never  sold  or  bought  one ;  but  took  those  in  my  pos- 
session to  keep  families  together  and  to  properly  settle  my  father'* 
estate.  I  fed  them  well,  clothed  them  comfortably,  worked  them 
moderately,  and  gave  them  full  religious  privileges.  I  feel  that, 
under  the  circumstances,  I  did  my  duty,  and  when  they  were  freed 
I  felt  that  a  great  responsibility  was  removed  from  me.  I  was  re- 
lieved, but  my  freedmen  did  no  better.  I  would  not  have  them 
back  if  I  could,  though  they  were  worth  at  the  time  the  war  began 
at  least  ten  thousand  dollars  in  gold.  The  loss  I  never  regretted. 
I  think  I  did  my  duty  by  them. 

The  Tennessee  Conference  met  at  Franklin,  Tennessee,  Octo- 
ber 12,  1853.  Bishop  Capers  was  to  preside.  He  was  not  present 
at  the  opening,  but  appointed  A.  L.  P.  Green  to  preside  till  he 
should  come.  In  those  days  a  Bishop  had  the  right  to  appoint  a 
substitute  in  his  absence,  provided  always  that  he  selected  a  pre- 
siding elder.  Dr.  Green  filled  the  chair  well  till  the  arrival  of  the 
Bishop,  which  I  think  was  on  Friday  the  14th.  This  Conference 
was  one  of  interest.  Dr.  Jenkins  and  his  Chinaman  were  present, 
and  David  C.  Kelley,  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Kelley,  was  elected 
and  ordained  both  deacon  and  elder  in  view  of  his  going  to  China 
as  a  missionary.  The  service  was  solemn,  the  more  so  because  he 
was  presented  by  his  father;  his  mother  also  was  present.  David 
was  an  only  son,  and  the  only  living  child  of  his  parents. 

At  this  Conference  delegates  were  elected  to  the  ensuing  Gen- 
eral Conference,  which  was  to  meet  at  Columbus,  Georgia,  May  1, 
1854.  Eleven  were  chosen  on  the  first  ballot,  an  extraordinary  oc- 
currence. My  brethren,  as  usual,  honored  me  by  placing  my 
name  at  the  head  of  the  list — a  distinction  I  did  not  deserve;  but 
such  was  their  kindness  to  one  who  duly  appreciated  their  good 
feeling  and  partiality. 

The  Memphis  Conference  held  its  session  for  1853  in  Novem- 
ber. I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  the  brethren.  Bishop  Capers 
presided.  I  overtook  the  Bishop  and  Mrs.  Capers  at  Tuscumbia, 
Alabama,  lodged  by  the  way.     I  made  arrangements  and  got  them 


THE  FIRST  PERSON  SINGULAR.  243 

off,  and  we  had  a  most  tiresome  ride  by  stage  to  Holly  Springs. 
Mississippi.  There  we  left  Mrs.  Capers,  and  the  Bishop  and  I,  in 
a  hack  or  carriage,  traveled  leisurely  to  Grenada,  Mississippi, 
where  the  Conference  convened.  We  consumed  nearly  two 
days^  in  the  journey.  I  found  Bishop  Capers  to  be  one  of  the 
most  pleasant  and  entertaining  traveling  companions  it  had  been 
my  good  fortune  to  enjoy.  Genial,  intelligent,  communicative, 
one  never  tired  in  his  company. 

The  Conference  was  pleasant,  and  the  missionary  meeting  was 
a  success.  Grenada  was  a  pleasant  town,  situated  on  the  margin 
of  Yalabusha  River,  in  the  heart  of  a  rich  cotton  country. 

December  18,  1853,  by  request,  I  visited  Murfreesboro,  Ten- 
nessee, and  preached  a  funeral  sermon  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Sarah 
Polk  Phillips  and  Mrs.  Joanna  Jetton,  daughters  of  Dr.  W.  R. 
Rucker.  They  were  nieces  of  Mrs.  President  Polk.  About 
three  years  before  I  had  married  both  parties  under  one  cere- 
mony, and  now  in  one  funeral  discourse  the  last  tribute  was  paid 
to  two  excellent  Christian  women,  both  members  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church. 

On  Christmas-day  I  preached  a  dedicatory  sermon  in  the  new 
church  erected  in  Nashville  for  the  benefit  of  the  colored  Meth- 
odist congregation.  It  was  named  "  Capers  Chapel,"  in  honor 
of  Bishop  Capers.  Bishop  Soule  was  present,  and  after  the  ser- 
mon offered  the  house  to  God  in  prayer.  He  also  made  a  pres- 
ent of  a  Bible  and  hymn-book  to  the  congregation.  Dr.  R.  Mar- 
tin, a  prominent  layman,  also  presented  the  brethren  with  a  copy 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  A  number  of  white  persons  were  pres- 
ent, and  much  interest  was  taken  in  the  prosperity  of  the  colored 
people.  The  same  church  has  been  deeded  to  the  "Colored 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America."  It  was  always  a  great 
pleasure  for  me  to  minister  to  the  slaves.  They  were  cared  for 
by  white  preachers,  who  did  much  to  elevate  and  save  them  from 
sin. 

The  next  day  after  the  dedication  Bishop  Soule  set  out  for 
California  via  New  Orleans.  He  was  more  than  seventy  years 
old.  This  was  years  before  the  railroad  across  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains was  constructed.  Bishop  Soule  was  an.  example  of  zeal  and 
perseverance. 

In  January,  1854,  began  the  eighteenth  volume  of  the  Advocate, 
and  my  fourteenth  year  in  conducting  the  paper.    From  February 


244  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

till  May  I  was  busy  with  my  work,  getting  every  thing  ready  for 
the  approaching  General  Conference.  I  preached  nearly  every 
Sabbath,  made  temperance  addresses  during  the  week,  and  wrote 
and  read  of  nights.  Several  writers  attempted  to  draw  me  into 
a  discussion  in  reference  to  the  propriety  of  establishing  a  Pub- 
lishing House  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  I  avoided  the  discussion,  believing  it  would  ac- 
complish no  good  at  the  time.  I  had  every  thing  ready  by  the 
first  of  May  to  make  a  full  report  to  the  General  Conference. 
Many  of  the  delegates  passed  through  Nashville  on  their  way  to 
Columbus,  Georgia,  where  the  Conference  was  to  convene.  The 
condition  of  my  family  detained  me  for  a  few  days.  My  beloved 
wife  was  in  a  situation  which  would  not  allow  me  to  leave  in  com- 
pany with  the  body  of  the  delegates.  Finally,  by  the  persuasion 
of  my  wife,  I  left  home  with  great  reluctance.  She  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  favorite  physician,  Dr.  Robert  Martin;  the  Rev.  S.  P. 
Whitten  was  an  inmate  of  my  family  with  his  daughter,  and  my 
wife's  mother  was  a  member  of  the  family.  So  she  felt  secure 
in  the  hands  of  friends  and  in  the  hand  of  God,  and  urged  me  to 
leave.  I  did  go  with  a  heavy  heart,  but  apprehended  no  evil  re- 
sults. But  alas!  to  leave  home  was  to  see  my  affectionate  wife 
no  more  this  side  the  spirit  land.  When  I  received  the  dispatch 
announcing  her  dangerous  illness  I  was  overcome  with  sorrow,  and 
left  on  the  first  train  for  home.  On  my  arrival  I  found  that  my 
dear  wife  was  buried  and  the  whole  house  was  full  of  grief.  The 
child,  which  Avas  born  four  days  before  her  death,  was  healthy 
and  promising,  and  has  lived  to  be  groAvn.  She  bears  the  name 
of  her  mother.  But  little  Bettie,  her  sister,  three  years  and  seven 
months  old,  and  a  fine  child,  Avas  taken  suddenly  sick,  and  Avithin 
ten  Aveeks  after  the  death  of  her  mother  went  to  meet  her  in  the 
skies.  She  said  before  taken  ill  that  she  Avould  die  and  go  and 
see  her  mother.  She  Avas  buried  by  her  side.  She  Avas  a  lovely 
child,  and  her  loss  Avas  much  deplored. 

Having  left  the  General  Conference,  I  did  not  return  before 
the  session  ended.  Before  I  left  the  question  of  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Publishing  House  Avas  discussed.  I  took  ground  in 
its  favor,  and  made  a  long  speech.  After  I  left  the  question  Avas 
decided  in  the  affirmative,  and  the  House  located  at  Nash\dlle. 
The  Rev.  E.  Stevenson  and  the  Rev.  F.  A.  Owen  Avere  elected 
Book  Agents;  Dr.  T.  O.  Summers  Avas  elected  Book  Editor  and 


THE  FIRST  PERSON  SINGULAR.  245 


editor  of  the  Sunday-school  literature  of  the  Church;  the  Rev.  L. 
D.  Huston  was  elected  editor  of  the  Home  Circle,  a  monthly  period- 
ical which  was  to  be  published  instead  of  the  Ladies"  Companion. 
I  was  re-elected  editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate;  the  Louisville 
department  was  discontinued,  and  I  alone  had  charge  of  the  paper. 
The  election  took  place  in  my  absence,  and  the  office  was  again 
conferred  upon  me  without  any  solicitation  on  my  part.  I  was 
also  run  for  Bishop  in  my  absence,  and  received  several  votes  for 
Book  Agent.  The  office  of  Bishop  I  never  desired.  It  is  a  responsi- 
ble station  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  involves  duties 
that  I  never  wanted  to  assume.  Many  spoke  to  me  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  I  was  assured  by  friends  that  had  I  remained  at  the  Con- 
ference I  would  have  been  elected;  but  that,  owing  to  recent  fam- 
ily afflictions  which  I  was  called  upon  to  endure,  it  was  thought 
better  to  retain  me  in  the  editorial  chair.  How  much  there  was 
in  this  I  do  not  know;  but  certain  I  am  that  I  much  preferred 
the  office  of  editor  to  that  of  Bishop.  I  have  a  high  appreciation 
of  the  office  of  Bishop  in  our  Church,  but  I  can  truly  say  that  I 
never  felt  that  I  was  called  of  God  to  this  position,  and  never  felt 
disappointed  or  mortified  that  I  was  not  chosen  as  one  of  our  Gen- 
eral Superintendents. 

On  the  15th  of  June  I  entered  upon  my  work  again.  This  was 
the  fifth  time  I  had  been  selected  for  this  office.  We  had  now  a 
great  work  to  perform.  The  Advocate  in  its  finances  was  noAV  to 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Book  Agents.  This  relieved  me  of  a 
burden  that  I  had  borne  for  fourteen  years.  I  had  more  time  to 
devote  to  the  literary  department  of  the  paper;  but  still  to  sustain 
the  interests  of  the  Church  at  this  central  point,  and  to  maintain 
the  honor  of  the  Methodists  in  conducting  its  central  organ,  re- 
quired much  attention  and  unceasing  labor.  This  neAv  arrange- 
ment brought  a  number  of  brethren  to  Nashville:  Dr.  Stevenson 
and  F.  A.  Owen,  Dr.  Summers,  Dr.  Huston;  Dr.  Sehon,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Missionary  Society ;  and  finally  Dr.  Jefferson  Hamil- 
ton, as  Secretary  of  the  Tract  Society.  With  all  these  brethren 
I  lived  in  the  greatest  harmony.  Each  respected  each,  and  all 
loved  one  another. 

During  the  summer  of  this  year  we  had  a  visitation  of  cholera 
in  Nashville,  which  produced  much  excitement,  but  I  passed 
through  it  without  any  inconvenience.  I  attended  to  the  sick, 
buried  the  dead,  and  continued  to  conduct  the  paper. 


246  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  in  company  with  the  Rev.  Adam  S.  Riggs,  I 
visited  Cornersville,  Tennessee,  where  I  dedicated  a  new  church. 
During  this  trip  we  suffered  much  with  heat  and  loss  of  sleep, 
being  required  to  travel  late  at  night  to  reach  our  appointment. 
The  public  conveyance  on  which  we  had  depended  failed,  and  we 
had  to  make  private  arrangements;  hence  the  delay  and  the  se- 
verity of  the  journey.  About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  our 
horse  seemed  to  become  exhausted  from  heat.  We  drove  up  to  a 
spring  by  the  wayside  and  cooled  him  as  well  as  possible,  and 
then  pursued  our  journey.  Six  or  eight  persons  who  drank  at 
that  spring  on  that  day  were  taken  with  cholera,  and  several  of 
them  died.  To  this  day  the  spring  is  called  the  "  Cholera  Spring." 
I  do  not  pretend  to  account  for  the  fact,  but  it  is  certain  the  deaths 
occurred. 

The  remainder  of  the  year  was  taken  vip  in  the  discharge  of  my 
usual  duties.  My  home  was  lonely,  and  the  cares  of  my  house- 
hold increased.  For  my  children  I  felt  great  concern,  and  spent 
as  much  time  with  them  as  possible.  My  revered  mother-in-law, 
Mrs.  Sarah  New,  a  widow,  gave  me  much  aid.  She  was  an  ex- 
cellent woman*,  was  devoted  to  my  children,  and  loved  them  as  if 
they  were  her  own.  My  servants  did  pretty  well  without  a  mis- 
tress to  direct  and  manage,  but  the  main  support  of  my  household 
was  gone,  and  I  felt  the  loss  seriously.  Who  can  estimate  the  loss 
of  a  mother?  Whenever  I  see  a  family  of  young  children  with- 
out a  mother  my  sympathies  are  enlisted,  and  I  feel  as  though  I 
wanted  to  extend  to  them  a  helping  hand. 

I  had  a  warm  debate  about  this  time  with  the  Nashville  Union, 
on  the  theaters  and  circuses.     See  Advocate  of  those  times. 

On  the  17th  of  this  month  (September)  I  dedicated  the  new 
church  at  Bethphage,  in  Sumner  County,  Tennessee. 

I  met  the  Kentucky  Conference  at  Maysville  October  20,  where 
Bishop  Early  presided.  The  Bishop  at  that  time  gave  great  satis- 
faction in  the  chair  and  in  the  pulpit.  He  was  prompt,  and 
preached  with  unction. 

The  Tennessee  Conference  this  year  convened  at  Florence, 
Alabama,  Bishops  Soule  and  Paine  both  present.  I  was  detained 
on  account  of  the  extreme  illness  of  my  brother,  A.  P.  McFerrin, 
who  was  expected  to  die ;  but  by  good  nursing,  skillful  practice, 
and  the  providence  of  God  he  survived,  and  was  restored  to  good 
health.     Here  it  was,  on  his  sick-bed,  that  he  consented  to  preach 


THE  FIRST  PERSON  SINGULAR.  247 

the  gospel.  He  had  long  resisted  the  call  of  the  Spirit  and  his 
convictions  of  duty,  but  now  he  yielded,  and  soon  after  his  recov- 
ery applied  for  license  to  preach.  He  is  now  a  traveling  preacher. 
It  was  a  sore  trial  to  me  to  be  absent  from  the  Conference,  but 
duty  and  affection  kept  me  by  the  side  of  a  sick  brother  whom  I 
dearly  loved. 

Soon  after  I  was  permitted  to  visit  the  Holston  Conference, 
which  met  at  Cleveland,  Tennessee.  Here  Bishop  Pierce  pre- 
sided at  his  first  Conference.  He  displayed  tact  and  talent,  and 
preached  with  great  power.  He  evinced  at  once  that  there  had 
been  no  mistake  in  his  election  and  ordination  to  the  office  of  a 
Bishop.  The  Rev.  Samuel  Patton,  D.D.,  editor  of  the  Holston 
Christian  Advocate,  had  died  before  the  meeting  of  the  Confer- 
ence. I  was  commissioned  by  the  Book  Agents  to  buy  out  the 
concern  and  consolidate  the  paper  with  the  Christian  Advocate  at 
Nashville.  After  a  tremendous  struggle  I  succeeded  in  my  mis- 
sion, and  the  Holston  paper  was  merged  into  the  central  organ  of 
the  Church.     This,  I  think,  was  a  wise  move. 

After  this  I  visited  Somerville,  the  seat  of  the  Memphis  Con- 
ference, and  was  commissioned  by  the  Book  Agents  and  Book 
Committee  to  make  an  effort  to  have  the  Memphis  Christian  Ad- 
vocate transferred  to  Nashville,  so  as  to  have  but  one  Church  paper 
in  the  State.  I  made  the  effort,  but  did  not  succeed.  The  Mem- 
phis paper  was  continued,  and  the  ensuing  General  Conference 
made  an  appropriation  of  four  or  five  thousand  dollars  out  of  the 
funds  of  the  Publishing  House  to  relieve  it  of  debts  contracted 
in  sustaining  its  publication. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1854  the  Book  Agents  resolved  to  reduce 
the  price  of  the  Advocate  to  $1.50,  invariably  cash  in  advance. 
This  was  wise  for  two  reasons:  1.  It  increased  the  number  of  sub- 
scribers, and  thereby  became  the  medium  of  communication  be- 
tween the  Publishing  House  and  the  members  of  the  Church  to  a 
much  larger  extent.  2.  As  the  terms  were  cash  in  advance,  many 
bad  debts  were  avoided.  We  had  lost  thousands  by  the  credit 
system.  This,  however,  gave  great  dissatisfaction  to  the  conduct- 
ors of  some  of  the  other  papers,  and  a  Avar  on  the  Agents  was 
commenced,  which  resulted  in  a  sharp  conflict  between  myself 
and  brethren  whom  I  greatly  respected.  I  defended  the  Book 
Agents  and  their  policy.  Some  brethren  thought  there  was  not  a 
proper  division  of  the  funds  of  the  Church  between  the  different 


248  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

offices.  Among  others,  I  had  a  sharp  discussion  with  H.  N.  Mc- 
Tyeire,  editor  of  the  New  Orleans  paper.  He  was  sprightly,  and 
at  that  early  time  gave  promise  of  eminence  in  the  Church.  He 
has  met  the  expectation  of  his  warmest  friends.  He  is  now  one 
of  our  prominent  Bishops,  and  wields  a  large  influence  in  the 
Church.  I  write  him  down  at  this  day  as  a  man  of  ability.  He 
has  a  great  power  for  good,  and  I  pray  he  may  prove  an  honor 
to  the  Church  and  a  blessing  to  Methodism.  I  believe  he  will. 
May  God  sustain  him  and  all  our  General  Superintendents  in 
their  arduous  and  oftentimes  thankless  work!  The  Bishops  are 
held  to  strict  accountability,  and  not  infrequently  are  judged  un- 
kindly. I  am  a  friend  to  all  our  distinguished  brethren  occupy- 
ing this  high  position,  and  hope  none  of  them  will  ever  bring  a 
reproach  upon  the  cause  which  they  so  ably  defend. 


VIEWS,  DOINGS,  JOURNEYINGS. 


AND  here  I  wish  to  record  my  opinion  of  the  officers  of  the 
General  Conference  who  were  with  me  at  the  inauguration 
of  the  Publishing  House. 

Dr.  Edward  Stevenson,  the  principal  Book  Agent,  was  a  man 
of  age  and  experience  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  was  a  very 
effective  preacher.  As  a  Book  Agent  he  was  honest,  vigilant,  and 
indefatigable.  He  of  course  had  but  little  experience  in  the  man- 
ufacture and  sale  of  books,  and  consequently  he  labored  under  pe- 
culiar disadvantages  in  organizing  a  great  concern  like  the  Pub- 
lishing House.  He  was  in  a  measure  dependent  on  others ,  but, 
all  in  all,  he  was  faithful,  and  did  a  great  work  for  the  Church. 
Although  I  did  not  regard  him  as  a  very  skillful  financier,  in  his 
integrity  I  had  confidence.  Dr.  Stevenson  was  arrested  and  put 
in  prison  by  the  Federal  authorities  because  of  his  Southern  pro- 
clivities.    Out  of  prison,  he  soon  died — a  good  man  and  true. 

The  Rev.  F.  A.  Owen  was  a  genial,  popular  man,  and  a  good 
counselor.  He  was  regarded  as  the  Associate  Agent,  although  he 
had  equal  authority.  He  always  deferred  to  his  senior,  and  was 
very  modest  in  his  suggestions.  He  never  coveted  the  position, 
and  at  one  time  resigned.  He,  however,  was  re-elected,  and 
served  out  his  full  time.  He  was  loved  and  respected  by  all  who 
knew  him. 

Dr.  Thomas  O.  Summers,  who  still  lives  at  the  time  of  this 
writing,  is  in  many  respects  a  remarkable  man.  His  early  ad- 
vantages were  limited.  He  was  brought  up  a  mechanic,  and  had 
not  the  advantages  of  early  literary  or  scholastic  training;  but  he 
has  been  a  student  all  his  life.  For  close  application,  hard  work, 
a  retentive  memory,  and  the  rapid  acquisition  of  knowledge,  he 
has  few  superiors.  He  is  decidedly  the  most  indefatigable  man 
in  the  study  of  books  and  in  his  editorial  life  that  I  have  ever  seen. 
Withal,  he  is  a  pure,  sound-hearted  Christian  and  a  man  of  great 
integrity  of  character.  He  loves  the  Church,  and  gives  his  whole 
time  and  strength  to  advance  the  cause  of  his  Master.     He  is  an 

(249)   . 


250  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

able  preacher  and  a  sound  expounder  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
He  always  lacked  magnetism,  and  hence  had  not  as  much  power 
with  the  people  as  many  others  of  far  inferior  attainments.  I 
regard  him  as  a  noble-hearted  Christian  and  a  man  of  wonderful 
knowledge. 

L.  D.  Huston  was  a  peculiar  man.  In  person  he  was  attract- 
ive, in  voice  and  manner  in  the  pulpit  almost  inimitable.  He  was 
a  very  elegant  and  eloquent  speaker.  As  a  writer  he  was  chaste 
and  beautiful ;  but  he  lacked  industry.  He  was  so  fond  of  social 
life  that  it  was  difficult  to  confine  him  to  his  vocation  as  an  editor. 
He  was  finally  expelled  from  the  Church  for  immorality.  I 
thought  he  was  not  guilty  of  the  charges  and  specifications  on 
which  lie  was  excluded.  In  this  I  might  have  been  in  error; 
but  I  am  of  the  same  opinion  now.  The  trouble  in  his  case  was 
that  he  had  many  evil  reports  following  him.  These  had  their 
effect  upon  the  public  mind,  and  weighed  much  in  his  trial.  Poor 
man!  I  loved  him  much,  and  still  hope  that  he  may  be  saved. 
His  wife  was  a  charming  Christian  woman. 

•Dr.  E.  W.  Sehon,  Missionary  Secretary,  was  a  noble  specimen 
of  a  high-toned  Christian  gentleman.  His  person  was  command- 
ing, his  manner  pleasing,  his  voice  full  and  mellow,  and  his  ora- 
torv  popular.  He  had  but  one  fault — he  was  a  poor  financier;  but 
his  soul  was  full  of  generosity.  He  did  not  know  the  worth  of 
monev.  He  was  very  sanguine,  and  hence  he  was  often  misled  in 
his  calculations. 

Dr.  Jefferson  Hamilton  was  a  great  preacher  and  good  man,  but 
had  no  particular  adaptation  to  the  agency  of  books  and  tracts. 
The  pulpit  and  pastoral  work  were  his  field  of  labor.  There  he 
was  a  host,  and  he  died  in  the  harness.  His  death  was  glorious. 
Few  more  successful  preachers  ever  blessed  our  Church  in  mod- 
ern times. 

During  this  year  the  Rev.  Alexander  Campbell  visited  Nash- 
ville. He  preached  in  McKendree  Church,  and  lectured  several 
times  in  the  city  on  spirit  -  rappings  and  Universalism.  Mr. 
Campbell  was  now  an  old  man,  but  still  had  a  great  intellect. 
He  had  modified  his  former  teachings  very  much.  On  the  doc- 
trines of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  the  Godhead,  and  the  operation 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  he  gave  many  of  his  own  followers  great  dis- 
satisfaction. He  seemed,  to  Trinitarians,  orthodox,  and  evinced  a 
meek   and  Christian  spirit.     Bishop   Soule  heard  his  sermon  on 


VIEWS,  DOINGS,  JO URNE TINGS.  251 


"The  Divinity  of  Christ,  and  the  Deity,  Personality,  and  Work 
of  the  Spirit,"  and  expressed  himself  as  agreeably  surprised.  Mr. 
Campbell  was  a  great  man,  but  many  of  his  early  teachings,  I 
think,  did  much  harm.  Yet  he  seemed  to  be  sincere,  and  closed 
his  life,  I  trust,  in  peace  with  God  and  man.  He  was  the  founder 
of  a  sect  that  has  become  numerous;  but  as  he  had  no  creed,  no 
confession,  no  articles  of  religion,  his  followers  are  not  united,  and 
have  no  common  bond  of  union.  They  believe  any  thing  or  noth- 
ing as  they  choose.  Mr.  Campbell  was  much  more  orthodox  than 
most  of  his  followers. 

About  this  time  one  of  his  preachers,  the  Rev.  Jesse  B.  Fergu- 
son, became  one  of  the  most  attractive  and  popular  ministers  in 
the  city.  He  drew  large  crowds,  and  was  much  admired.  Alas 
for  him!  he  became  unsettled  in  his  religious  views,  if  he  ever 
had  any  well-defined  sentiments.  He  became  a  believer  in  spirit- 
rapping,  embraced  Universalism,  and  finally,  I  think,  became  a 
skeptic.  He  lost  his  influence,  lost  his  church  by  fire,  lost  his 
congregation,  and  died  in  middle  life.  I  often  looked  upon  him 
with  sadness,  and  mourned  to  see  one  so  gifted,  so  popular,  and 
calculated  to  do  so  much  good  waste  his  precious  talents  and  fail 
to  accomplish  the  good  he  might,  if  he  only  had  had  genuine 
principles  in  him  and  had  been  governed  by  proper  motives  and 
sound  Christian  sentiments.  I  always  tremble  for  "  stay  preach- 
ers," as  they  have  been  aptly  called. 

January  i,  1855,  began  a  new  volume.  I  visited  the  Georgia 
Conference,  which  was  held  at  Atlanta.  Bishop  Capers  and  one 
other  Bishop  were  present.  This  was  my  first  visit  to  this  Con- 
ference. I  met  a  cordial  reception,  and  procured  many  new  sub- 
scribers to  the  Advocate.  The  missionary  meeting  was  good — ■ 
about  $1,200  collected.     It  was  my  lot  to  be  one  of  the  speakers. 

About  this  time  McFerrin  and  Hunter  (A.  P.  McFerrin)  sold 
out  their  book-store  to  Stevenson  and  Owen,  and  they  were  both 
employed  in  the  House,  as  they  both  had  large  experience  in  the 
book  trade.  During  this  month,  too,  Dr.  Hamilton  entered  upon 
his  duties  as  Secretary  of  the  Tract  Society.  This  enterprise, 
while  it  distributed  many  valuable  books,  in  the  end  proved  a  se- 
rious financial  loss  to  the  House.  The  Doctor,  as  I  have  said 
elsewhere,  was  a  great  preacher  and  a  good  man,  but  he  was  too 
kind  and  too  credulous  to  conduct  a  business  that  required  rigid 
management. 


252  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

February  8  of  this  year  -\ve  announced  the  death  of  Bishop  Ca- 
pers. His  death  was  unexpected  and  much  lamented.  In  his 
palmy  days  he  "was  one  of  the  finest  pulpit  orators  in  America. 
He  was  the  first  to  move  in  sending  missionaries  to  the  slaves  of 
the  South.     His  name  is  still  precious  to  the  Church. 

About  this  time  the  temperance  question  ran  high.  Many  of 
the  friends  of  the  cause  were  in  favor  of  a  prohibitory  law,  I 
among  the  rest.  If  nothing  better,  all  wanted  an  optional  law.  I 
made  many  temperance  addresses,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the 
work  of  reform.  During  this  month  I  visited  Lebanon,  Tennes- 
see, where  I  made  a  speech  on  Saturday  night,  and  preached  twice 
on  Sunday  to  large  congregations.  The  Rev.  W.  C.  Johnson  was 
then  stationed  preacher  in  Lebanon. 

In  the  months  of  February  and  March  Dr.  E.  Stevenson,  the 
Book  Agent,  was  very  sick  in  Louisville,  Kentucky.  He  had  not 
as  yet  removed  his  family  to  Nashville.  The  Rev.  F.  A.  Owen 
and  myself  went  by  boat  to  visit  him — quite  a  trip  in  those  days. 
We  were  two  or  three  days  reaching  Louisville — a  journey  that 
can  now  be  completed  in  eight  hours  by  railroad.  We  found  Dr. 
Stevenson  very  ill,  but  improving  a  little.  At  his  request  I  acted 
as  Agent  for  him  till  he  Avas  able  to  remove  to  Nashville.  He 
complimented  me  Avith  a  fine  gold-headed  cane,  an  elegant  pencil, 
a  gold  pen,  and  a  pair  of  gold-framed  spectacles.  The  spectacles  I 
did  not  much  need,  for  up  to  that  period  my  eye-sight  continued 
good. 

In  April  of  this  year  the  Bishops  of  our  Church  had  a  meet- 
ing in  Nashville.  It  was  also  the  time  of  the  anniversary  of  the 
Missionary  Board  of  our  Church.  Bishop  Pierce  preached  a  ser- 
mon on  the  death  of  Bishop  Capers.  It  Avas  a  very  fine  discourse, 
and  Avas  published  by  request.  The  missionary  meeting  Avas  a 
grand  success.  We  collected  about  $2,250.  I  took  the  lead  in 
the  collection,  and  Avas  assisted  by  Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Green,  Avho  in  his 
palmy  days  Avas  a  good  missionary  speaker  and  a  good  solicitor. 
Bishop  Pierce  and  Dr.  Sehon  made  the  speeches.  The  occasion 
was  one  of  great  interest.  Three  of  the  editors  were  also  pres- 
ent: Dr.  Myers,  of  Charleston;  McTyeire,  of  NeAV  Orleans;  and 
C.  C.  Gillespie,  of  Galveston.  They  Avere  all  comparatively 
young  men,  and  all  men  of  promise.  McTyeire  was  afterAvard 
made  Bishop.  Myers  Avas  true,  and  died  in  1876  much  respected 
and  greatly  lamented.     Gillespie  apostatized,  and  died   in   1876, 


VIEWS,  DOINGS,  JOURNEl'INGS.  253 

near  its  close,  or  about  the  beginning  of  1877.     He  made  a  wreck 
of  himself.     Poor  fellow !  he  was  a  man  in  his  day. 

In  the  month  of  May  of  this  year  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  met  in  Nashville.  It  was  an  able  body 
of  ministers  and  laymen.  Among  the  most  distinguished  preach- 
ers present  were  Dr.  Boardman,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Dr.  Thorn- 
well,  of  South  Carolina.  During  the  session  the  Rev.  Dr.  Philip 
Lindsley  died  of  apoplexy.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  learning,  and 
had  been  for  many  years  before  his  death  President  of  the  Nash- 
ville University.  His  death  was  lamented  in  Nashville,  where  he 
was  so  well  known. 

About  this  time  I  visited  Gallatin,  where  there  was  a  gracious 
revival  of  religion.  The  Rev.  A.  F.  Lawrence  was  the  preacher, 
a  good  man  and  a  successful  minister  of  the  gospel.  He  lately 
died  in  Christ.     His  death  is  lamented. 

In  the  month  of  June  I  visited  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  as 
a  member  of  the  National  Division  Sons  of  Temperance.  The 
meeting  was  an  occasion  of  special  interest.  Some  of  the  first 
men  of  the  nation  were  present,  and  made  addresses  to  large  pub- 
lic assemblies.  Judge  O'Neal,  of  South  Carolina,  was  present, 
and  made  an  address.  As  Grand  Worthy  Patriarch  of  Tennessee 
I  attended  a  number  of  mass-meetings  during  the  year.  Among 
other  places,  I  visited  Jackson,  Tennessee,  where  we  held  a  series 
of  meetings  with  considerable  success.  Poor  W.  T.  Haskell  was 
present.  He  was  one  of  the  finest  orators  in  the  State,  but  had 
fallen  by  strong  drink.  Many  efforts  were  made  to  save  him.  He 
took  a  new  start  at  this  meeting,  but  he  lacked  stability,  and  fell 
back  into  his  old  habits.  He  was  a  man  of  superior  powers  on 
the  stump  or  platform.  His  excellent  wife  still  survives,  a  warm 
Methodist  and  a  highly  cultivated  lady.  When  Mr.  Haskell  was^ 
young  he  professed  religion,  united  with  the  Church,  and  was 
v  firm  and  steady  for  a  season ;  but  finally  law,  politics,  stump-speak- 
ing, and  ungodly  associations  led  him  away.  I  have  heard  it  \ 
stated  that  he  was  solemnly  impressed  when  young  that  he  was  f 
called  to  preach ;  but  he  resisted  the  call,  and  the  train  of  evils  al- 
/    luded  to  followed.     I  have  known  other  instances  of  the  kind.     It  fi 

Lis  a  fearful  thing  to  resist  the  Spirit  of  God  and  fail  to  do  the  worky 
to  which  we  are  distinctly  moved.     On  this  journey  I  visited  and 
spoke  and  preached  in  Trenton,  Tennessee. 

During  this  summer  I  visited  Winchester,  Tennessee,  and  ded- 


254  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


icated  a  new  church.  I  preached  three  sermons.  The  Rev.  A. 
F.  Driskill,  the  presiding  elder,  and  Brother  J.  G.  Rice,  the  sta- 
tioned preacher,  were  present,  and  took  an  interest  in  the  services. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  this  jear  I  visited  the  towns 
of  Athens,  Courtland,  and  Huntsville,  Alabama.  These  were  fa- 
vorite places  with  me,  having  spent  much  of  my  early  ministerial 
life  in  North  Alabama.  I  made  a  very  pleasant  tour,  and  preached 
a  number  of  sermons.  At  Athens  I  visited  the  grave  of  my  old 
friend  and  presiding  elder,  the  Rev.  Joshua  Boucher,  and  the 
resting-place  of  the  Rev.  Albert  G.  Kelly,  who  both  lie  buried  in 
the  cemetery  there. 

August  31  of  this  year  the  Rev.  Thomas  Martin,  of  Robertson 
County,  Tennessee,  died;  and,  according  to  his  request,  I  preached 
his  funeral  sermon.  He  was  a  good  man,  and  left  the  savor  of  a 
good  name.  His  son,  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Martin,  still  lives  at  the 
time  of  this  writing.  Like  his  father,  he  is  a  man  above  reproach. 
They  are  kinsmen  of  my  family.  I  preached  a  funeral  sermon 
of  another  aged  local  preacher  this  year — the  Rev.  Alexander 
Rascoe — who  had  been  preaching,  as  well  as  Mr.  Martin,  for  more 
than  fifty  years.  Father  Rascoe  died  near  Goodlettsville,  some 
twelve  miles  from  Nashville.  It  is  a  pleasant  task  to  review  the 
life  and  sketch  the  character  of  a  good  man  who  has  long  been  a 
faithful  follower  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  who  closes  his  mortal 
career  in  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality. 

In  September,  1855,  I  preached  a  funeral  sermon  on  the  death 
of  E.  P.  McGinty,  editor  of  the  True  Whig,  Nashville,  Tennes- 
see, and  of  Miss  Catharine  Louisa  McGavock,  daughter  of  Mr. 
John  McGavock.  They  both  died  the  same  day.  Mr.  McGinty 
was  the  son-in-law  of  Mr.  McGavock,  and  died  at  his  house.  A 
large  concourse  of  people  attended  the  funeral.  Mr.  McGinty 
was  a  talented,  respectable  Christian  gentleman,  and  Miss  McGav- 
ock was  a  fine-looking,  amiable  young  lady — a  Christian  ready  to 
die,  and  who  departed  this  life  in  peace. 

Soon  after  this  I  visited  Walton's  camp-meeting  near  Good- 
lettsville. The  meeting  was  very  profitable.  There  were  many 
preachers  present — among  others,  the  Rev.  F.  E.  Pitts  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Green.  On  Sunday  morning  fifteen  infants 
and  twelve  adults  were  baptized  at  one  time.  The  scene  was  very 
impressive.  About  this  date  I  buried  at  Liberty  Hill — the  home 
of  Col.  Hill — the  wife  of  the  Rev.  William  Burr.     She  died  near 


VIEWS,  DOINGS,  JOURNEl'INGS.  255 

Pulaski,  and  was  brought  to  Williamson  County  for  interment. 
She  was  a  good  woman,  and  belonged  to  one  of  the  oldest  Meth- 
odist families  in  Tennessee. 

In  the  paper  of  October  n  will  be  found  reflections  on  the 
meeting  of  an  Annual  Conference.  The  Tennessee  Confer- 
ence just  now  convened  in  Nashville.  Bishops  Soule  and  Kav- 
anaugh  were  both  present.  Bishop  Soule  was  feeble,  and  most 
of  his  work  devolved  on  Bishop  Kavanaugh.  During  the  session 
Bishop  Paine  passed  through  Nashville  and  made  a  short  sojourn. 
The  Conference  was  an  interesting  occasion.  We  had  many  vis- 
iting brethren:  The  Book  Agents,  Stevenson  and  Owen;  Dr. 
Sehon,  Missionary  Secretary;  Dr.  Summers,  Dr.  Hamilton,  and 
others.  While  the  Conference  was  in  session  my  neighbor,  Hardy 
Bryan,  died  at  the  house  in  which  I  now  live.  I  preached  his  fu- 
neral sermon  to  many  sympathizing  friends.  He  was  a  good  man 
and  a  sound  Methodist. 

By  special  invitation  I  visited  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  the  last 
week  in  October.  It  wras  a  grand  temperance  occasion.  I  made 
several  addresses,  and  preached  five  sermons.  When  I  arrived  at 
the  depot  in  Knoxville  I  found  the  Rev.  W.  G.  Brownlow  waiting  to 
receive  me.  He  conducted  me  to  his  dwelling,  where  I  enjoyed  his 
hospitality  while  I  remained  in  the  city.  Mr.  Brownlow  was  then 
a  Southern  Methodist  preacher  in  good  standing,  was  the  editor 
of  a  paper,  and  was  a  strong  temperance  man.  I  was  entei-tained 
handsomely  at  his  home.  His  family  treated  me  with  great  hos- 
pitality. Mr.  Brownlow  is  a  character.  He  still  lives  at  this  writ- 
ing. Few  men  in  this  country  have  attained  to  greater  notoriety. 
He  was  born  in  Virginia,  and  was  brought  up  at  a  trade.  He  was 
a  carpenter,  I  think.  When  j-oung  he  professed  conversion,  and 
joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  was  the  nephew  of 
the.  Rev.  Robertson  Gannaway,  long  a  worthy  member  of  the 
Holston  Conference.  Mr.  Brownlow  was  admitted  on  trial  in  the 
Holston  Conference  in  the  autumn  of  1826,  and  was  appointed 
this  first  year  to  Black  Mountain  Circuit,  North  Carolina.  For 
several  years  he  continued  in  the  Conference,  and  had  several 
debates,  or  conflicts,  with  the  Baptists  and  with  the  Presbyterians. 
He  soon  made  a  noise  in  the  world,  and  as  early  as  1832  was 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference,  which  met  in  Phil- 
adelphia in  May  of  that  year.  After  a  few  years  he  became  the 
editor  of  a  secular  papei*,  and  went  into  politics.     As  a  journalist 


256  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


he  gained  great  notoriety.  He  was  severe,  fearless,  and  I  may  say 
reckless.  From  one  position  to  another  he  went  forward  till  he 
became  Governor  of  Tennessee  during  the  Civil  War,  and  then 
was  elected  Senator  to  the  United  States  Congress.  He  has  from 
time  to  time  had  many  friends  and  numerous  enemies.  He  has 
been  loved  and  hated  as  much,  perhaps,  as  any  one  in  the  State. 
He  has  always  been  friendly  with  me  and  treated  me  with  respect. 
He  has  some  excellent  traits  of  character,  and  in  many  respects  he 
has  led  a  life  very  ill  suited  to  the  calling  of  a  minister  of  the  gos- 
pel of  Christ.  He  is  now  old  and  infirm — a  member,  as  I  under- 
stand, of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (North),  having  gone  off 
from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  during  the  war  He 
is  a  riddle.  I  hope  he  may  end  his  life  in  peace.  He  has  surely 
had  much  strife  in  his  time.  I  think  he  is  perhaps  a  better  dis- 
posed man  than  many  people  judge  him  to  be.  He  is  said  to  be  a 
good  husband,  a  kind  father,  an  excellent  neighbor,  and  a  gener- 
ous and  charitable  citizen.  Altogether,  he  is  a  remarkable  man, 
and  has  had  a  curious  career. 


6  C  Wo    \  I    ck^J 

WW 


A  BRIDAL  TOUR,  AND  OTHER  THINGS, 


ON  the  evening  of  November  12,  1855,  I  was  married  to  Miss 
Cynthia  Tennessee  McGavock,  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Mc- 
Gavock,  who  lived  a  near  neighbor  to  me.  The  ceremony  was 
performed  by  the  Rev.  William  C.  Johnson,  the  pastor  of  Hobson 
Chapel,  where  the  family  held  their  Church-membership.  It  was 
just  eighteen  months  after  I  had  lost  my  first  wife.  The  idea  of 
marrying  the  second  time,  especially  where  there  are  children  in 
the  family,  is  a  very  serious  one.  Second  marriages  oftentimes 
end  in  misfortune.  To  marry  a  wife,  and  introduce  her  into 
a  household  where  the  remembrance  of  the  departed  mother  is 
fresh,  is  a  risk.  All  this  and  more  I  considered  well,  and  made  it 
a  matter  of  sincere  and  solemn  prayer.  I  had  a  family  of  four 
children.  Their  mother  was  an  only  child,  and  hence  had  no  near 
relative  to  whom  the  children  could  be  committed.  T  had  but  two 
sisters,  and  they  lived  at  a  distance,  and  had  large  families  of  their 
own.  I  was  from  home  much  of  my  time ;  my  children  needed 
a  mother  to  watch  over  them.  To  marry  a  stranger  I  feared ;  so  I  se- 
lected one  whom  I  had  known  from  her  young  days,  one  whom 
my  children  knew  well,  and  whom  they  approved.  She  was 
younger  than  I  by  several  years,  which  might  have  been  a  serious 
objection,  and  yet  I  hoped  that  the  match  would  prove  a  happy 
one.  And  so  it  did.  And  now,  after  more  than  twenty-one  years, 
I  feel  that  the  hand  of  God  led  me.  She  has  been  a  great  help 
to  me  in  my  work.  Industrious,  vigilant,  and  a  good  manager, 
she  relieved  me  of  many  cares.  God  has  blessed  me  with  two 
good  wives,  for  which  I  am  truly  grateful.  To  both  of  them  I 
was  tenderly  allied.  I  do  not  love  the  memory  of  the  first  the 
less  because  of  my  connection  with  the  second,  nor  do  I  love  the 
second  the  less  because  of  my  affection  for  the  first.  Both  were 
worthy,  and  both  alike  had  my  sincere  love.  I  have  in  all  my 
married  life  been  true  and  sincere  in  my  affections,  and  have  sa- 
credly in  my  heart,  as  well  as  in  my  life,  kept  my  marriage  vows. 
"  17  (257) 


258  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

On  the  evening  of  our  marriage,  with  my  oldest  daughter  (Sa- 
rah Jane),  we  set  out  on  the  train  for  a  visit  to  the  North  Carolina, 
Virginia,  and  South  Carolina  Conferences.  After  a  pleasant  jour- 
ney we  reached  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  on  Friday  morning, 
an  hour  before  daylight.  A  porter  urged  us  to  stop  at  a  certain 
hotel,  but  when  we  reached  the  establishment  we  could  find  no 
room,  and  had  to  put  in  our  time  as  well  as  we  could  till  breakfast. 
We  were  treated  very  rudely  by  the  proprietor.  He  first  refused 
us  a  room,  and  then  became  enraged  because  we  would  not  re- 
main in  his  house.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Frost,  the  stationed  preacher, 
found  for  us  a  charming  home  at  the  house  of  Brother  Bawden, 
whose  family  made  us  welcome  and  treated  us  with  marked  at- 
tention. This  was  my  first  visit  to  the  North  Carolina  Confer- 
ence. Bishop  Andrew  was  present  and  presided.  The  Confer- 
ence gave  us  a  hearty  reception,  and  the  visit  was  pleasant,  and  I 
trust  profitable.  I  represented  the  interests  of  the  paper  and  of 
the  Publishing  House.  I  also  made  a  missionary  address  at  the 
anniversary,  besides  preaching  to  a  large  congregation. 

From  Wilmington  we  proceeded  to  Baltimore  and  back  to 
Washington  City  and  to  Richmond.  My  wife  and  daughter  took 
much  delight  in  visiting  these  old  and  famous  Southern  cities. 
We  spent  the  Sabbath  in  Richmond,  where  I  preached. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  week  we  proceeded  to  Petersburg, 
where  the  Virginia  Conference  convened,  Bishop  Andrew  presid- 
ing. Here  we  were  entertained  in  a  most  hospitable  manner  by 
that  great  and  good  man,  Mr.  D'Arcy  Paul — a  man  noted  for  his 
piety,  liberality,  hospitality,  and  good  manners.  His  wife  was  a 
charming  Christian  woman.     Both  are  now  in  heaven. 

From  Petersburg  we  went  to  Marion,  South  Carolina,  the  seat 
of  the  South  Carolina  Conference.  Here  we  were  entertained  by 
Mrs.  Mclntire,  an  excellent  Presbyterian  lady.  Bishop  Early  pre- 
sided at  this  Conference.  Dr.  Sehon  was  also  present.  On  Sun- 
day evening  Dr.  WTightman,  now  Bishop,  preached  a  funeral  dis- 
course in  memory  of  Bishop  Capers.  The  sermon  was  a  great  one, 
and  the  effect  on  the  audience  was  wonderful.  Bishop  Capers 
was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  and  was  long  a  member  of  the 
South  Carolina  Conference.  He  was  greatly  beloved  and  highly 
esteemed.  The  preacher  was  fully  prepared,  and  the  sermon  was 
worthy  of  the  occasion. 

From  Marion  we  went  to  Charleston,  where  we  spent  a  day  oi 


A  BRIDAL  TOUR,  AND  OTHER  THINGS.     259 

two  with  the  family  of  Dr.  E.  H.  Myers,  who  was  then  editor  of 
the  Southern  Christian  Advocate.  Our  visit  ended,  we  returned 
to  Nashville  after  an  absence  of  nearly  one  month.  Our  return 
was  greeted  with  pleasure  by  our  families  and  friends,  and  my  wife 
entered  upon  her  new  duties  in  life. 

January  3,  1856,  we  began  the  twentieth  volume  of  the  Advo- 
cate, and  1  entered  upon  my  sixteenth  year  of  editorial  life.  Dur- 
ing this  month  a  discussion  sprung  up  between  Dr.  D.  R.  McAn- 
ally,  editor  of  the  St.  Louis  Christian  Advocate,  and  myself  in  re- 
gard to  notices  of  the  Publishing  House  and  its  publications.  The 
Doctor,  I  thought — and  he  made  the  impression  on  the  minds  of 
many  others  to  the  same  effect — was  not  friendly  to  the  concern 
at  Nashville,  and  consequently  was  unnecessarily  severe  in  his 
criticisms  upon  the  issues  from  the  Church  press.  We  had  sev- 
eral articles  pro  and  con.,  and  wound  up  good  friends.  Dr.  Mc- 
Anally  I  regard  as  a  good  man,  an  able  editor,  a  sound  Method- 
ist, and  as  one  of  my  best  friends.  He  has  lived  long  and  ren- 
dered valuable  service  to  the  Church. 

And  then,  again,  I  had  a  little  cross-firing  with  my  old  and 
long-tried  friend,  the  Rev.  William  Hicks,  of  the  Holston  Confer- 
ence. The  Book  Agents  had  bought  out  the  Holston  Christian 
Advocate,  and  it  was  understood  that  the  influence  of  the  preach- 
ers and  members  was  to  be  given  to  the  Advocate  at  Nashville. 
Mr.  Hicks,  after  this,  proposed  to  start,  and  did  begin,  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Herald  of  Truth  at  Henderson,  in  the  bounds  of  the 
Holston  Conference,  and  invoked  the  aid  of  the  preachers.  This 
I  considered  unfair,  and  consequently  opposed  the  enterprise  of 
Brother  Hicks,  or  rather  held  that  the  Holston  Conference  was 
bound  in  good  faith  to  give  all  their  influence  to  the  paper  at  Nash- 
ville. And  here  I  Avish  to  record,  as  perhaps  I  have  done  in  other 
places,  my  protest  against  invoking  Church  patronage  on  private 
interest  when  that  interest  comes  in  conflict  with  the  good  of  the 
Church.  Every  man  has  a  right  to  write  and  publish  in  this  free 
land,  but  he  has  no  moral  or  religious  right  to  injure  the  Church 
through  its  own  agents.  Brother  Hicks  is  a  good  man,  whom  I 
dearly  love,  and  is  one  of  my  warm  friends. 

All  along  through  this  year  we  had  many  discussions  with  our 
Northern  brethren  on  the  slavery  question,  and  the  relations  of 
the  two  Churches,  North  and  South,  to  the  institution.  We 
maintained  the  well-settled  views  of  the  Church  on  that  question, 


260  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

while  some  of  our  friends  North  contended  earnestly  for  its  im- 
mediate abolition.  The  controversy  oftentimes  waxed  warm,  es- 
pecially so  as  it  involved  other  matters  of  importance. 

Two  unusual  editorials  appeared  about  this  time,  written  by 
request.  The  first  was  an  article  against  allowing  one's  self  to 
grow  old  too  soon,  and  the  other  was  against  remaining  young 
too  long.  I  bestowed  some  pains  on  both  these  articles,  and  they 
were  highly  approved.  In  the  number  of  the  Advocate  of  March 
6  there  is  an  article  written  by  Dr.  E.  W.  Sehon,  called  "A "Model 
Paper,"  in  which  he  passes  a  high  encomium  on  our  sheet.  This 
was  of  course  gratifying  to  one  who  put  forth  his  best  efforts  to 
make  a  first-class  Christian  journal.  Nothing  should  be  charged 
to  the  account  of  vanity  or  egotism.  To  please  men  for  good  to 
their  edification  is  commended  by  an  apostle.  Selfish  or  personal 
ambitious  views  are  to  be  avoided,  but  to  do  good  by  securing  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  men  is  not  to  be  condemned. 

Along  during  February  and  for  several  succeeding  weeks  I  had 
a  sharp  controversy  with  some  Presbyterian  and  Baptist  editors 
and  their  correspondents.  Indeed,  our  location  at  Nashville,  our 
Publishing  House,  and  the  growth  of  Methodism  seemed  to  excite 
jealousy  and  provoke  opposition ;  hence  I  found  it  necessary  to 
defend  our  Church,  our  doctrines,  our  polity,  and  our  usages.  All 
this  I  did  with  a  good  will,  believing  I  was  in  the  right.  Angry 
controversy,  strife,  contention,  bickering,  are  all  unbecoming  a 
Christian,  and  especially  a  Christian  minister;  but  a  manly  de- 
fense of  the  truth  is  to  be  approved  and  commended.  So  I  be- 
lieved, and  so  I  endeavored  to  conduct  myself.  I  was  conscien- 
tious. 

Toward  the  close  of  this  winter,  which  was  marked  for  its  se- 
vere coldness,  the  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Bond,  Sr.,  M.D.,  died  in  the 
city  of  New  York.  He  was  an  able  writer  and  a  very  popular 
and  powerful  editor.  Though  a  Marylander,  he,  after  fighting 
the  Abolitionists  for  long  years,  took  sides  against  Bishop  Andrew 
and  the  South  in  the  great  conflict  in  1844.  He  was  a  formidable 
opponent,  and  did  much  to  mold  public  sentiment  in  the  North,  and 
especially  in  the  middle  Conferences.  He  and  the  paper  which 
we  controlled  had  many  fierce  battles,  but  he  always  treated  me 
with  due  respect.  He  told  some  of  my  friends  that  he  regarded 
the  Nashville  paper  as  his  most  formidable  opponent,  but  at  the 
same  time  passed  a  high  eulogy  on  the  manner  in  which  it  was 


BRIDAL  TOUR,  AND  OTHER  THINGS.      261 


conducted.  He  said  its  editor  never  misrepresented  any  one  with 
whom  he  took  issue.  Dr.  Bond  was  a  great  man;  so  was  his 
son,  Dr.  Thomas  E.  Bond,  Jr.,  who  was  a  strong  advocate  of  the 
rights  of  the  South,  and  who  died  much  lamented  by  the  whole 

Church. 

In  the  spring  of  1S56  there  was  a  very  important  educational 
convention  at  Nashville,  and  also  a  meeting  of  the  Bishops  of  our 
Church,  the  Missionary  Board,  the  Book  Committee,  and  man- 
agers of  the  Tract  Society.  The  occasion  was  one  of  deep  inter- 
est.    Many  of   our   distinguished  ministers   and  educators  were 

present. 

May  29  was  published  an  editorial  on  the  progress  of  Method- 
ism. This  was  written  in  answer  to  many  bitter  things  uttered 
against  our  Church,  as  well  as  to  strengthen  our  cause  and  en- 
courage our  brethren. 

In  the  month  of  May  the  General  Conference  of  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church  (North)  met  in  Indianapolis.  We  had  a  cor- 
respondent on  the  ground,  who  kept  us  well  posted.  He  wrote 
many  interesting  letters,  which  were  published  in  our  columns. 
The  writer  was  the  Rev.  W.  C.  Johnson,  now  editor  of  the  West- 
ern Methodist. 

Most  of  the  members  of  the  Northern  General  Conference 
about  this  time  were  extreme  on  the  question  of  slavery,  and 
many  hard  speeches  were  made.  Some  of  the  body,  however, 
were  temperate,  and  in  a  measure  held  the  majority  in  check. 

For  some  cause,  or  without  a  reason,  the  Union  and  American^ 
a  secular  paper  advocating  the  Democratic  party,  made  an  attack 
on  political  preachers,  and  before  the  matter  ended  a  sharp  con- 
troversy sprung  up  between  the  Christian  Advocate  and  the  afore- 
said publication.  In  my  defense  of  the  preachers  I  published  sev- 
eral editorials,  which  may  be  found  in  the  Advocate  of  June  19  and 
July  31,  1S56.  To  show  the  sentiments  the  Advocate  maintained 
it  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  those  issues. 

By  invitation  I  visited  Washington,  Georgia,  where,  on  the 
night  of  the  3d  of  July,  I  preached  to  a  large  congregation.  On 
the  4th  I  addressed  a  mass-meeting  of  the  Sunday-schools  of  the 
town  The  crowd  assembled  in  a  beautiful  grove  in  the  outskirts 
of  Washington;  the  audience  was  very  large  and  the  attention 
marked.  A  fine  dinner  was  served,  and  the  occasion  passed  off 
pleasantly  and  profitably.     At  night  I  preached  again,  and  on  the 


262  JOHN  B.  McFERRI*N. 

following  Sunday  I  delivered  a  Commencement  sermon  at  Madi- 
son to  a  large  congregation.  The  sermon  was  at  the  instance  of 
the  Faculty  of  the  nourishing  Methodist  female  school  in  the 
beautiful  town  of  Madison.  The  Rev.  Messrs.  Echols,  Bass,  and 
J.  L.  Pierce  were  all  connected  with  the  institution.  My  obser- 
vation has  led  me  to  the  conclusion  that  well-conducted  schools 
for  the  education  of  girls  exert  a  tremendous  influence  upon  so- 
ciety. In  thousands  of  instances  women  control  the  religious 
sentiments  and  Church  relations  of  their  male  friends,  and  espe- 
cially of  their  husbands.  How  important,  then,  that  schools  for 
girls  and  young  women  should  be  conducted  on  Christian  prin- 
ciples ! 

In  August,  1856,  I  visited  Manchester,  Coffee  County,  Ten- 
nessee, and  made  an  address  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of 
the  Methodist  Church.  A  subscription  was  raised  for  building 
the  house. 

During  the  autumn  I  visited  the  Kentucky  Conference,  at  Win- 
chester; the  Tennessee  Conference,  at  Huntsville,  Alabama,  and 
the  Memphis  Conference,  at  Jackson,  Tennessee.  At  Huntsville 
a  great  revival  followed  the  Conference,  resulting  in  the  conver- 
sion of  some  two  hundred  souls.  At  Jackson  I  preached  at  the 
Baptist  Church.  Notwithstanding  my  many  controversies  with 
the  Baptists,  I  was  very  often  invited  to  preach  in  their  houses  of 
worship. 

January  1,  1857,  we  began  the  twenty-first  volume  of  the  Chris- 
tian Advocate.  January  8  a  notice  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Gilliland 
is  published.  He  was  older  than  I,  but  we  were  converted  on  the 
same  day,  united  with  the  Church  together,  were  licensed  to 
preach  at  the  same  time,  and  ordained  deacons  and  elders  together. 
He  was  a  good  man,  an  able  preacher,  and  his  death  was  greatly 
lamented.     Our  souls  wei-e  knit  together  in  love. 

February  18  my  mother-in-law  (Mrs.  Sarah  New)  died  at  my 
house.  She  had  lived  with  my  family  for  many  years  before  my 
firot  wife's  death,  and  continued  with  us  till  she  died.  She  was  an 
excellent  Christian  woman,  one  whom  I  greatly  loved  and  re- 
spected. Her  death  was  a  sore  trial  to  my  children,  especially 
to  the  youngest,  who  could  not  realize  for  a  time  that  she  was 
more  than  sleeping.  On  Christmas-day,  1856,  my  daughter  Lulu 
was  born.     She  still  lives  to  bless  her  parents. 

On  the  22d  of  March  I  dedicated  the  new  church  at  Spring- 


A  BRIDAL  TOUR,  AND  OTHER  THINGS.      263 


field,  and  on  the  28th  the  Methodist  Church  at  Goodlettsville, 
twelve  miles  from  Nashville. 

There  was  a  large  collection  of  our  Bishops  and  preachers  in 
Nashville  in  April,  and  the  19th  was  a  day  of  special  pleasure. 
The  pulpits  were  filled  by  our  distinguished  friends. 

Early  in  May,  with  Bishop  Early,  Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Green,  and  Dr. 
Sehon,  "i  visited  Petersburg,  Virginia,  where  was  held  the  anni- 
versary of  the  Missionary  Society.  Sunday  was  devoted  to  preach- 
ing and  prayer-meetings— missionary.  On  Monday  evening  the 
missionary  meetings  proper  began,  and  were  continued  several 
evenings.  The  results  were  good,  for,  besides  a  good  spirit  per^ 
vading  the  congregation,  collections  amounting  to  over  $3,000 
were  realized. 

From  Petersburg  I  accompanied  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sehon  to  Clarks- 
burg, Virginia,  where,  on  the  second  Sunday  in  May,  we  formally 
dedicated  an  excellent  new  Methodist  Church.  I  preached  twice 
on  the  occasion,  and  Dr.  Sehon  once.  Here  his  venerable  mother 
lived.  Here  he  was  converted,  and  from  this  place  went  out  as  an 
itinerant  Methodist  preacher.  Dr.  Sehon  had  many  friends  and 
admirers  at  the  place  of  his  early  home. 

On  the  27th  of  May  the  wife  of  Bishop  Soule  died  near  Nash- 
ville. '  Her  funeral  was  largely  attended  by  the  friends  of  the 
Bishop  and  his  family. 

On  June  14  I  preached  the  Commencement  sermon  at  Colum- 
bia, Tennessee,  before  the  Faculty  and  students  of  the  Tennessee 
Female  College.  June  21  I  dedicated  the  new  church  at  Bethel, 
Sumner  County,  Tennessee.  Here  Bishop  Asbury  often  preached, 
and  here  the  first  Methodist  Conference  convened  that  ever  as- 
sembled in  Tennessee  west  of  the  mountains,  and  here  on  the  day 
of  dedication  was  exhibited  Bishop  Asbury's  portable  pulpit. 

June  25  I  buried  Dr.  Alexander  Graham,  of  Sumner  County, 
a  young  man  comparatively,  full  of  promise,  but  God  called  him 
home  early.     He  left  a  wife  and  small  family,  but  he  died  in  hope. 

The  fourth  Sunday  in  July  I  preached  at  Tullahoma,  then  a 
new  town.  Here  I  encountered  Mr.  Haile,  a  Baptist  preacher, 
who  made  a  furious  attack  upon  all  Pedobaptists,  and  especially 
upon  the  Methodists.  His  sermon  was  reviewed  in  the  afternoon 
and  at  night,  quite  to  the  comfort  of  the  Methodists.  Mr.  Haile 
promised  to  return  to  Tullahoma  and  respond,  but  I  learn  he 
never  again  appeared  in  the  place. 


264  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

We  had  frequent  attacks  from  the  Baptists  during  this  summer. 
Dr.  Hall,  of  Englahd;  Dr.  Fuller,  of  Baltimore;  and  Mr.  Spur- 
geon,  of  London,  and  many  others,  have  greatly  modified  their 
views.  Religious  controversies  are  unpleasant,  but  they  are  some- 
times essential.  Erroneous  and  strange  doctrines  must  be  ex- 
posed and  opposed. 

The  war  on  slavery  continued,  and  it  seemed  that  the  Churches 
in  the  South  were  to  have  no  rest  on  this  vexed  question.  We 
took,  as  we  believed,  scriptural  grounds  on  the  subject,  and  de- 
fended the  course  pursued  by  the  Southern  Church. 

The  Tennessee  Conference  convened  this  year  early  in  October 
at  Murfreesboro.  Bishop  Early  presided.  The  anniversary  of 
the  Missionary  Society  was  held  at  two  churches  on  Saturday 
evening.  Dr.  Green  spoke  at  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the 
editor  of  the  Advocate  at  the  Methodist  Church.  The  collections 
were  liberal.  On  Monday  twelve  delegates  were  elected  to  the 
ensuing  General  Conference.  The  brethren  honored  me  by  plac- 
ing my  name  at  the  head  of  the  list.  In  the  afternoon  of  that 
day  I  left  for  Nashville,  that  I  might  prepare  for  a  visit  to  Arkan- 
sas in  the  interest  of  the  Publishing  House. 

On  my  way  I  visited  my  mother,  two  brothers  (William  and 
James),  and  my  two  sisters,  Mrs.  Gilliland  and  Mrs.  Applewhite. 
They  all  lived  then  near  Marshall  Institute,  in  Marshall  County, 
Mississippi,  and  in  Shelby  County,  Tennessee.  My  mother's  chil- 
dren all  met  together  during  this  visit.  Several  of  her  grand- 
children were  also  present.  It  was  a  joyful  meeting.  I  preached 
on  Friday  night  at  the  Institute.  Twelve  or  thirteen  were  con- 
verted, a  revival  being  in  progress.  The  Sunday  following  I 
preached  in  Memphis  three  times.  On  Monday  I  left  for  Jack- 
sonport,  the  seat  of  the  White  River  Conference.  My  journey 
was  by  water — down  the  Mississippi,  up  White  River.  Here  I 
met  Bishop  Kavanaugh,  who  presided  at  the  Conference.  He  was 
In  fine  trim,  and  during  the  Conference  preached  one  of  his  great 
sermons.  It  was  on  Monday  night.  The  effect  was  so  wonderful 
that  the  people  rose  to  their  feet,  stood  on  the  seats,  and  actually 
climbed  upon  the  backs  of  the  seats.  There  was  a  great  religious 
uproar.  From  J acksonport  I  descended  the  river,  and  spent  sev- 
eral days  at  Augusta,  a  pleasant  town  on  the  eastern  bank  of 
White  River.  There  I  preached  several  times,  and  saw  signs  of 
good.     Monday  I  left  for  Little  Rock,  the  seat  of  the  Wachita 


A  BRIDAL  TOUR,  AND  OTHER  THINGS.      265 

Conference,  via  Searcy,  a  pleasant  village  on  the  road.  I  was  in 
a  buggy  with  a  little  boy,  Brother  and  Sister  Whitworth  in  com- 
pany irk  another  vehicle.  My  buggy  broke  down  about  midday. 
Patched  up  a  little,  I  progressed  with  fear,  and  finally  down  we 
came,  utterly  disabled,  with  no  chance  for  repairs.  We  were  in  an 
unsettled  country,  some  six  or  eight  miles  from  Searcy.  I  was 
forced  to  go;  had  an  appointment  to  preach  that  night  in  Searcy, 
and  no  place  to  lodge  had  we  remained  only  in  the  wild  woods. 
Loosing  my  horse  from  the  buggy,  I  mounted  him  bareback,  took 
the  boy  behind  and  my  valise  before.  I  rode  into  Searcy,  and 
reached  the  town  in  full  time  to  meet  my  engagement.  My  en- 
trance into  the  village  created  some  excitement,  but  the  end  of 
the  day's  journey  was  pleasant  to  me,  especially  as  the  bareback 
ride  was  any  thing  but  easy  and  comfortable.  But  I  had  never 
found  a  difficulty  that  there  was  not  a  way  out. 

At  Little  Rock  we  had  a  fine  Conference,  notwithstanding  the 
heavy  rain  that  fell  during  the  session.  I  lodged  with  Col.  Absa- 
lom Fowler,  a  lawyer  of  distinction,  whom  I  had  known  in  Ten- 
nessee when  we  were  both  young.  He  was  a  man  of  good  cult- 
ure and  of  superior  legal  attainments.  Our  missionary  meeting 
was  a  grand  success.  Dr.  J.  Hamilton,  Bishop  Kavanaugh  and 
the  writer  all  made  short  speeches.  Here  I  met  the  Hon.  Solon 
Boland,  said  to  be  the  finest  orator  in  the  West.  He  was  a  Meth- 
odist, and  a  man  full  of  generosity.  Mr.  Boland  died  compara- 
tively voung,  and  his  loss  was  mourned  by  many.  I  came  from 
Little  Rock  to  White  River  in  a  stage-coach,  thence  by  river  to 
Memphis. 

On  my  return  I  wrote  and  addressed  through  the  Advocate,  a 
series  of  letters  on  the  "  Glory  of  Methodism  "  to  Bishop  Soule. 
They  will  be  found  in  the  Advocate  of  December  17,  and  on 
through  the  months  of  January  and  February.  In  these  letters  I 
gave  my  views  of  Methodism.  Up  to  this  time  I  have  very 
slightly  changed  those  views,  if  at  all  modified  them. 

December  20  Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Green,  Dr.  L.  D.  Huston,  and  my- 
self attended  the  dedication  of  the  new  Methodist  Church  at 
Lebanon,  Tennessee.  The  house  had  cost  a  large  sum  for  those 
days,  and  was  two  thousand  dollars  in  debt  on  the  day  of  dedica- 
tion. The  plan  was  to  have  three  sermons — morning,  afternoon, 
and  night— and  lift  a  collection  at  the  close  of  each  sermon,  hop- 
ing thus  to  pay  off  the  entire  debt.     The  day  was  beautiful,  the 


266  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

congregations  large,  and  the  spirit  of  the  people  good.  Dr.  Hus- 
ton preached  the  first  sermon,  and  at  the  close  the  first  collection 
was  taken,  and  to  the  surprise  of  everybody  the  whole  sum  was 
contributed.  Then  we  had  a  happy  people  and  a  fine  new  house 
out  of  debt. 

From  about  this  time  till  May,  1858,  all  hands  were  busy  pre- 
paring for  the  General  Conference,  which  was  to  meet  in  Nash- 
ville. Several  subjects  were  discussed.  Among  the  most  impor- 
tant were  the  Publishing  House  and  the  support  of  the  Bishops. 


ROUGH  TIMES. 


ON  the  first  day  of  May,  1858,  the  General  Conference  assem- 
bled at  Nashville.  The  Hall  of  Representatives  was  offered 
and  accepted,  and  the  Conference  assembled  in  that  spacious  room. 
The  month  of  May  was  perhaps  the  most  busy  and  laborious 
month  of  my  life.  I  was  conducting  the  Advocate  as  usual,  edited 
the  Daily  Advocate  during  the  session,  was  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Books  and  Periodicals — the  most  laborious  committee 
of  the  Conference  that  session — and  had  my  house  full  of  visit- 
ors. But  my  strength  was  according  to  my  day,  and  I  did  not 
fully  comprehend  my  condition  till  the  General  Conference  had 
adjourned.  I  then  felt  that  I  was  well-nigh  exhausted.  A  few 
days'  rest,  however,  and  1  was  myself  again. 

At  this  General  Conference  I  was  elected  Book  Agent,  an 
office  to  which  I  did  not  aspire,  and  even  tried  to  avoid.  I  was  in 
favor  of  the  election  of  the  Rev.  E.  H.  Myers;  but  he  insisted 
that  he  could  not  accept  the  office,  and  urged  that  I  should  allow 
myself  to  be  run  for  the  position.  The  matter  was  submitted  to 
my  own  delegation,  and  I  begged  my  colleagues  to  vote  for  Dr. 
Myers  and  let  me  pass.  The  matter  remained  in  that  attitude  till 
the  hour  of  balloting  arrived.  Both  were  put  in  nomination,  and 
on  the  first  ballot  I  was  elected  by  a  considerable  majority.  This 
to  me  was  a  sore  disappointment.  I  desired  the  election  of  Dr. 
Myers ;  but,  knowing  the  difficulties  connected  with  the  operations 
of  the  institution,  I  reluctantly  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  the  Con- 
ference, which  were  expressed  by  a  decided  vote.  The  House  was 
seriously  in  debt,  and  there  was  not  that  full  harmony  in  its  sup- 
port which  was  essential  to  its  success.  I  gave  up  the  editorial 
department  of  the  paper  with  mingled  emotions.  I  had  been  at 
its  head  for  nearly  eighteen  years,  most  of  that  time  alone.  I 
had  had  success.  The  subscription-list  had  been  run  up  from 
three  or  four  thousand  to  above  thirteen  thousand;  all  its  debts 
had  been  paid,  and  it  was  a  source  of  revenue  to  the  Church.     I 

(267) 


268  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

had  many  friends,  and  the  excitement  of  an  editorial  life  suited 
my  temper.  Hence,  it  had  been  an  agreeable  life  to  me,  and  I 
parted  with  the  patrons  and  correspondents  of  the  paper  with  re- 
gret. And  vet  it  was  a  relief,  after  so  many  years  of  toil  and 
labor,  to  be  released  from  the  responsibilities  of  duties  involving 
so  many  interests  of  the  Church.  Having  bid  adieu  to  my  read- 
ers, I  entered  upon  my  duties  as  Book  Agent  with  a  determina- 
tion to  succeed,  if  at  all  possible  It  was  a  Herculean  undertak- 
ing, but  by  God's  help  I  proposed  to  address  myself  to  the  work. 
My  time  now  was  fully  employed  in  supervising  the  publishing 
interests  of  the  Church  The  Rev.  H.  N.  McTyeire  was  the  ed- 
itor of  the  Christian  Advocate,  Dr  Summers  of  the  Quarterly  Re- 
view and  Books,  and  Dr.  L.  D.  Huston  of  the  Home  Circle  and 
Sunday-school  books.  We  had  a  large  force  in  the  composition- 
rooms,  press-rooms,  bindery,  etc.  These  all  had  to  be  provided 
for,  while  in  the  book-store  we  had  to  keep  a  full  supply  of  clerks 
and  salesmen  to  transact  the  large  business  of  the  House.  Still,  I 
had  time  to  preach,  especially  on  Sundays,  and  never  failed  to  do 
full  work  in  this  department  as  opportunity  offered.  I  visited  the 
Annual  Conferences  as  far  as  possible,  and  made  interest  for  the 
House  wherever  I  could.  The  Rev.  R.  Abbey  Avas  elected  Fi- 
nancial Secretary  of  the  House.  It  was  his  business  to  form  book 
and  tract  societies  in  the  various  Conferences,  and  to  encourage 
the  establishment  of  depositories  in  different  sections  of  the 
Church.  He  succeeded  in  some  places  well;  in  other  parts  the 
scheme  was  not  so  much  in  favor.  In  his  field,  as  well  as  in  my 
department,  all  suggested  by  the  General  Conference,  we  worked 
to  the  utmost  of  our  skill  and  ability.  We  had  some  success; 
indeed,  I  might  say  considerable  success.  Finally,  in  i860,  after  a 
very  heated  canvass,  Mr.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected  President 
of  the  United  States  over  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  John  Bell,  and 
John  C.  Breckinridge.  This  event  created  much  excitement  in 
the  country,  especially  in  the  South,  as  Mr.  Lincoln  was  regarded 
as  the  Abolition  candidate.  The  questions  of  slavery  and  aboli- 
tion had  been  discussed  till  the  whole  country  was  in  commotion. 
Politicians  and  statesmen  in  the  Southern  or  slave  States  believed 
that  slavery  was  doomed  if  Mr.  Lincoln  carried  out  the  princi- 
ples avowed  in  the  Republican  platform ;  and  of  this  they  had  no 
doubt.  They  also  saw,  as  they  believed,  that  the  doctrines  of 
"  State   rights "   would   be  assailed    and   the   sovereignty  of    the 


ROUGH  TIMES,  269 


States  destroyed.  Hence  arose  a  determined  opposition  to  Mr. 
Uncoin  Then  followed  agitations  in  Congress,  mass-meeting 
"the  people,  evincing  a   purpose  to  resist,  then  warmth 

*"  a^mTluicoIu  made  his  proclamation  calling  out  troops  I 
made  a  few  speeches  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  many  iriends 
I  never  preached  a  political  sermon.     Tennessee  seceded,  but  I 
lent  o/wlth  the  duties  of  the  Publishing  House.     We  had  a 
large  business,  and  made  handsome  profits  on  our  sales,  and  by 
February   .862,  I  had  reduced  the  liabilities  of  the  House  about 
$,8000      Fort  Donelson  fell,  and  Gen.  Sidney  Johnston,  then  in 
command,  evacuated    Bowling  Green,   Kentucky     and   passing 
through  Nashville,  crossed  the  Tennessee  River  leaving  Middle 
Tennessee  to  the  mercy  of  the  Federal  army     After  consul      on 
I  took  my  family  south  of  the  Federal  lines,  and  halted LfinaUy  * 
Cornersville,  Giles  County.     I  left  because  my   ne  nds  thought :* 
advisable,  and  because  Gen.  Johnston  so  counseled,  as  I  was  old 
I  understood  that  the  prejudice  against  me  in  the  North  was  very 
strong,  because  I  was  Book  Agent,  and  because  I  was  known  to  be 
a  thorough  Southern  man  in  sentiment.     After  the  war  was  over 
I  was  told  that  there  was  a  strong  desire  to  arrest  me  and  to  deal 

with  me  severely.  .      ,     ,       ,      j  „,u 

I  left  my  house  and  furniture-most  of  it  in  the  hands  of  oth- 
ers     I  also  left  most  of  my  servants,  expecting,  perhaps,  soon  to 
return  home.     After  several  months,   some  persons  went  to  my 
home,  captured  twelve  or  thirteen  of  my  servants,  ran  the  block- 
ade,  and  Drought  them  to  Giles  County      This  was  all  without  my 
knowledge  or  direction,  and  I  was  really  sorry  they  were  brought 
out      Some  of  mv  fnends  advised  me  to  sell  them,  and  nd  myself 
of  the  trouble.     I  said:  "No;  I  will  find  them  homes      Should 
the  war  go  against  the  South,  they  will  be  freed.     In  that  case    I 
wish  no  one  else  to  sustain  the  loss.     I  want  no  one's  money  with- 
out value  received."    And  besides  they  were  family  servants,  and 
I  did  not  intend  to  dispose  of  them  on  any  terms,  unless  they 
wished  me  to  sell  them.     I  had  never  bought  or  sold  a  slave,  but 
those  which  1  had  were  family  servants.     I  had  treated  them  hu- 
manely, and  never  intended  to  wrong  them  in  any  sense.     In  my 
heart  I  believed  slavery  to  be  an  evil-more  of  an  evil  to  the  mas- 
ter than  to  the  slave-but  under  the  circumstances,  and  in  view 
of  the  teachings  of  God's  word,  I  did  not  believe  it  to  be  a  sin 


270  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

fer  se.  After  the  war  they  all  returned,  and  were  free,  but  fared 
not.  so  well  as  when  I  had  them  at  home  and  provided  for  all 
their  wants.  And  now,  though  I  do  not  justify  the  means  by 
which  they  were  emancipated,  I  am  glad  that  I  am  free  from  the 
responsibility  of  owning  slaves.  I  did  the  best  I  could  with  them 
and  for  them.  I  fed  and  clothed  them  well,  gave  them  good 
houses  and  plenty  of  fuel,  worked  them  moderately,  provided 
medical  treatment  for  them  when  sick,  and  gave  them  ample  re- 
ligious privileges.  I  strove  to  preserve  their  morals  and  to  teach 
them  to  fear  God  and  work  righteousness. 

Going  south  I  tarried  a  little  by  the  way,  but  finally  stopped  at 
Cornersville,  Tennessee,  where  I  was  kindly  received  and  enter- 
tained by  my  friends,  Mr.  Ange  Cox  and  the  Rev.  James  R.  Mc- 
Clure.  Their  families  were  especially  generous  in  our  entertain- 
ment, and  I  here  wish  to  leave  on  record  my  grateful  remem- 
brance of  the  hospitality  and  generosity  of  these  two  families,  par- 
ticularly of  J.  R.  McClure  and  of  his  excellent  wife.  Leaving 
my  family  at  Cornersville,  I  went  to  Atlanta,  Georgia,  to  meet 
the  Bishops  and  Board  of  Missions  at  their  annual  meeting. 
While  here  the  Federals  crossed  the  State  and  occupied  all  Ala- 
bama north  of  the  Tennessee  River.  This  cut  me  off  from  my 
family.  I  had  no  chance  to  return  to  Middle  Tennessee.  It  was 
a  sad  and  sorrowful  day.  There  I  was  in  Georgia,  my  wife  and 
children  in  Tennessee,  from  home,  and  full  of  anxiety  because  of 
a  separation  from  me.  This  was  in  the  early  spring  of  1S62.  Our 
General  Conference  was  to  have  met  in  New  Orleans  April  1, 
1862,  but  now  all  hope  of  convening  was  given  up,  and  I  was  left 
out  of  employment  and  out  of  hearing  of  my  family.  Seeing  no 
prospect  of  returning,  I  visited  my  relatives  in  West  Tennessee; 
went  to  Gen.  Johnston's  army  at  Corinth,  Mississippi,  where  I  re- 
mained a  short  time,  visiting  my  friends  among  the  soldiers,  and 
looking  to  the  sick  in  the  hospitals.  This  was  soon  after  the  battle 
of  Shiloh,  where  Gen.  Sidney  Johnston  was  killed.  The  Confed- 
erates gained  a  great  victory  on  the  first  day  of  the  battle,  but 
Gen.  Johnston  having  fallen,  and  the  triumph  considered  complete, 
the  Confederates  did  not  follow  up  their  victory,  so  that  on  the 
second  day,  the  Federals  having  been  re-enforced,  the  Confeder- 
ates lost  what  they  had  won,  or  at  least  the  battle  was  drawn,  and 
each  side  took  time  to  rest  and  prepare  for  another  conflict.  I 
went  to  North  Alabama,  where  I  spent  the  summer  in  preaching 


ROUGH  TIMES.  271 


in  Russell's  Valley  and  about  Guntersville  and  in  Jones's  Val- 
ley. I  passed  many  days  at  the  house  of  Maj.  Green,  a  most  hos- 
pitable gentleman,  who  resided  a  few  miles  above  where  Birming- 
ham now  stands.  There  was  no  town  at  that  time  where  this 
young  city  is  now  growing  so  rapidly. 

In  the  meantime  my  family  returned  to  Nashville,  and  I  could 
hear  nothing  from  them.  They  could  receive  no  communica- 
tions from  me,  or  if  any  thing  was  sent  it  was  uncertain  as  to  its 
reaching  its  destination.  Thus  we  were  ignorant  of  each  other's 
whereabouts  or  of  the  condition  of  either  party.  While  at  Gunters- 
ville Rev  J  H.  Gardner  volunteered  to  run  the  blockade  and  see 
my  family  and  bring  me  word,  while  I  traveled  his  circuit  and 
filled  his  appointments.  He  made  a  safe  and  expeditious  trip,  saw 
my  family,  brought  some  clothing,  and  reported  all  well.  Mr. 
Gardner  was  an  Ohio  man.  He  had  come  to  Tennessee  some 
years  before  as  a  teacher.  I  had  been  his  friend.  He  united  with 
the  Tennessee  Conference,  and  was  a  very  promising  man.  This 
act  of  kindness  and  heroism  I  shall  ever  remember  with  gratitude. 

Gen.  Bragg,  who  succeeded  Gen.  Johnston  in  the  command  of 
the  Army  of  Tennessee,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  made  a 
raid  into  Kentucky  via  Cumberland  Gap.  This  drew  the  Federal 
army  out  of  Middle  Tennessee  south  of  Nashville,  so  that  in  Oc- 
tober I  returned  to  Cornersville,  where  the  Tennessee  Conference 
met  on  the  15th  of  the  month.  No  Bishop  being  present,  I  was 
elected  President  of  the  Conference,  and  conducted  the  business 
to  the  end.  We  were  in  session  five  days.  The  attendance  was 
tolerably  full,  though  some  of  the  brethren  were  too  far  north  to 
reach  the  seat  of  the  Conference. 

After  the  Conference  I  met  my  family  at  Mr.  Ab.  Scales's, 
a  few  miles  from  College  Grove,  not  having  seen  them  since  early 
in  the  spring  The  meeting  was  joyful.  They  Avent  again  to  J. 
R  McClure's,  near  Cornersville,  where  we  remained  most  of  the 
winter. 

Gen.  Bragg  returned  from  Kentucky  and  occupied  Murfrees- 
boro,  Tennessee,  where,  during  the  winter,  there  was  a  heavy  bat- 
tle. I  was  in  Georgia  at  the  time  of  the  fight,  but  soon  returned 
and  visited  and  preached  to  the  soldiers.  In  the  course  of  the 
spring  Gen.  Bragg  fell  back  to  Shelbyville  and  Tullahoma.  In 
April  I  visited  Macon,  Georgia,  in  company  with  the  Rev.  A.  S. 
Riggs,  where  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  Bishops  and  Missionary 


272  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Board.  Bishop  Kavanaugh,  however,  was  not  present.  He  was 
in  Kentucky,  and  Bishop  Soule  was  in  Nashville.  At  this  meet- 
ing it  was  determined  to  send  missionaries  to  the  Confederate 
army.  These  were  to  be  supported  by  the  Missionary  Society, 
and  were  to  co-operate  with  the  chaplains  in  the  army. 

At  this  meeting  I  was  appointed  by  the  Bishops  in  charge  of 
all  the  Methodist  missionary  work  in  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Myers,  who  was  Assistant  Treasurer,  and  resided  in 
Augusta,  was  to  push  the  collections  at  home  and  to  act  in  con- 
cert with  the  preachers  in  raising  money  to  support  the  men  in  the 
field. 

On  our  return  to  Shelbyville,  Tennessee,  we  found  our  mutual 
friend  and  brother,  the  Rev.  S.  S.  Moody,  a  corpse.  He  had 
lingered  long  with  consumption.  I  visited  him  often  while  he  was 
sick,  and  always  found  him  patient  and  trusting  God.  I  preached 
his  funeral  sermon  and  laid  him  away  to  rest.  He  was  a  noble 
Christian  minister,  and  had  been  for  many  years  a  popular  and 
useful  member  of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  filling  many  impor- 
tant appointments.  He  said  to  me  in  our  last  conversation  that  he 
onlv  reproached  himself  for  want  of  courage  to  preach  against 
popular  sins.  This,  he  said,  aro.^e  from  timidity,  or  fear  of  hurt- 
ing some  one's  feelings,  but  said  it  was  a  duty  from  which  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel  should  never  shrink.  His  was  a  lovely  char- 
acter. 

I  entered  immediately  on  my  work  in  the  army,  and  as  rapidly 
as  I  could  engaged  as  many  preachers  as  I  thought  the  Mission- 
ary Society  could  sustain.  There  was,  however,  no  lack  of  men 
or  means.  Many  faithful  preachers  were  ready  for  the  work,  and 
the  people  were  willing  to  contribute  to  sustain  them.  I  began 
my  work  in  Shelbyville.  I  was  hailed  with  pleasure  by  the  offi- 
cers and  soldiers,  and  especially  the  chaplains.  Among  my  first 
sermons  as  a  missionary  I  preached  in  the  Presbyterian  Church 
to  a  crowded  house,  made  up  of  officers,  privates,  and  citizens. 
Among  my  hearers  was  Gen.  (Bishop)  Polk.  He  lingered  in  the 
aisle  after  the  benediction,  gave  me  a  very  cordial  greeting  and 
bade  me  Godspeed  in  mv  vocation.  He  said  he  much  preferred  to 
be  there  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel  than  in  any  other  capacity. 
During  my  whole  stay  in  the  army  I  was  treated  with  great  court- 
esy by  all  classes.  Not  a  single  word  was  unkindly  spoken  to  me 
by  any  one  who  knew  me. 


ROUGH  TIMES.  273 


Gen.  Bragg  gave  me  authority  to  draw  rations  and  forage,  and 
issued  an  order  that  all  the  missionaries  should  be  allowed  a  like 
privilege.  For  some  time  I  remained  about  Shelbvville,  Tulla- 
homa,  and  the  neighborhoods  adjoining,  preaching  day  and  night. 
A  great  work  of  grace  had  commenced  in  many  of  the  commands, 
and  the  chaplains  and  preachers  in  the  neighborhood  were  act- 
ively engaged  in  the  precious  revival  that  was  springing  up  in 
almost  every  direction.  Preachers  of  the  various  denominations 
were  united  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  A  few  extracts  from  my 
diary  will  indicate  the  state  of  the  work. 

On  May  17  I  preached  at  10  o'clock  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church;  house  crowded;  mostly  officers  and  soldiers;  serious  at- 
tention. At  3  o'clock  I  preached  in  Bate's  Brigade ;  a  very  good 
time ;  revival  in  the  brigade. 

On  May  19  I  preached  in  Bushrod  Johnson's  Brigade;  thirty 
to  forty  mourners;  glorious  work  in  this  command. 

On  May  20  I  preached  at  night  in  Gen.  Polk's  Brigade;  many 
mourners ;  several  conversions. 

On  May  21,  at  night,  I  preached  in  Gen.  Wood's  Brigade;  forty 
to  fifty  mourners;  fifteen  or  twenty  conversions.  Powerful  work 
here. 

On  May  22  I  made  an  address  in  Gen.  Riddle's  Brigade;  a 
great  work  here;  already  more  than  one  hundred  conversions  in 
this  command.     And  so  the  work  went  forward. 

June  15  I  rode  to  Cornersville  to  visit  my  family.  Here  I 
was  taken  with  the  yellow  jaundice,  which  rendered  me  unfit  for 
duty. 

Early  in  July  Gen.  Bragg  retreated  from  Shelbyville  to  Chat- 
tanooga. I  was  sick  at  the  time  at  Cornersville,  and  had  no 
knowledge  of  his  movement  till  he  Avas  across  the  Tennessee 
River.  Sick  as  I  was,  I  made  my  way  on  horseback  south  to  the 
Tennessee  River,  crossed  at  Lamb's  Ferry,  and  reached  Court- 
land,  Alabama,  where  I  remained  a  short  time,  and  then  sper.t 
about  two  weeks  with  Dr.  Smith  at  Mountain  Home,  recruiting 
my  health.  Having  improved,  I  set  out  for  Chattanooga,  where 
I  was  to  join  the  army.  Preaching  on  Sand  Mountain  by  the 
way,  I  reached  Chattanooga  and  preached  in  Gen.  Wright's  Bri- 
gade on  the  night  of  August  14.  lie  was  camped  a  few  miles 
from  the  city.  There 'were  five  conversions  that  night,  among 
them  a  captain  of  one  of  the  companies. 
18 


274  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

August  16  I  preached  in  Chattanooga  to  a  large  congregation 
at  the  Methodist  Church.  Here  I  met  for  the  first  time  William 
E.  Munsey.  He  was  a  young  man,  simple  in  manners  and  sweet 
in  disposition,  just  beginning  to  take  high  rank  as  a  preacher. 
From  this  till  the  19th  of  September  I  was  constantly  engaged 
in  preaching,  visiting,  and  holding  prayer-meetings  in  various 
parts  of  the  army.  At  Chattanooga,  Missionary  Ridge,  Harrison, 
Tyner's  Station,  and  La  Fayette,  Georgia,  many  precious  souls 
were  converted  during  this  revival. 

On  the  19th  and  20th  of  September,  1863,  the  great  battle  was 
fought  at  Chickamauga,  some  fifteen  miles  from  Chattanooga. 
The  slaughter  was  tremendous  on  both  sides,  but  the  Confeder- 
ates held  the  field,  while  the  Federals  retreated  to  Chattanooga. 
Had  Gen.  Bragg  followed  up  his  victory  on  the  morning  of  the 
2 ist,  his  triumph  woidd  have  been  complete.  I  remained  on  the 
battle-field  eleven  days,  nursing  the  sick  and  ministering  to  the 
wounded.  The  sight  was  awftd.  Thousands  of  men  killed  and 
wounded.  They  lay  thickly  all  around,  shot  in  every  possible 
manner,  and  the  wounded  dying  every  day.  O  what  sufferings! 
Among  the  wourded  were  many  Federal  soldiers  who  had  been 
captured  in  the  fight.  To  these  I  ministered,  prayed  with  them, 
and  wrote  letters  by  flag  of  truce  to  their  friends  in  the  North. 
They  seemed  to  appreciate  every  act  of  kindness.  In  this  battle 
my  son  James — who  had  just  entered  the  army  a  few  days  before — ■ 
was  slightly  wounded,  and  my  nephew,  J.  P.  McFerrin,  was  se- 
verely shot  in  the  thigh  by  a  minie-ball,  which  caused  him  great 
pain  and  disabled  him  for  years  to  come.  Many  a  noble  soldier 
fell  on  this  field  to  rise  no  more  till  the  last  trumpet  shall  sound. 
Here  I  talked  to  the  wounded  and  prayed  for  the  dying.  Here  I 
saw  Capt.  Otey  just  before  he  died;  he  expressed  hope  in  God. 
Here  Maj.  Carr,  of  Rienzi,  Mississippi,  died  of  a  wound,  full  of 
hope,  full  of  joy.     And  many  others  went  home  to  God. 

After  eleven  days,  in  company  with  Capt.  Gray,  I  passed 
through  Georgia  to  Huntsville,  Alabama,  and  thence  to  Corners- 
ville,  Tennessee,  where  I  met  my  family,  and  where  I  remained  a 
few  days,  and  then  recrossed  the  Tennessee,  and  by  a  long  route 
reached  Missionary  Ridge,  near  Chattanooga,  where  Gen.  Bragg's 
forces  were  in  line,  protected  to  some  extent  by  breastworks.  The 
Federals  occupied  Chattanooga.  The  two  armies  were  in  full 
view  of  each  other  for  weeks.     All  along  the  foot  of  Missionary 


ROUGH  TIMES.  275 


Ridge  we  preached  almost  every  night  to  crowded  assemblies, 
and  here  many  precious  souls  were  brought  to  God.  During  this 
encampment  I  went  on  the  summit  of  Lookout  Mountain,  and 
had  a  full  view  of  both  armies.  The  Federals  occupied  Chatta- 
nooga, and  were  camped  along  the  Tennessee  River  on  both  sides 
of  the  stream.  Thev  had  fortifications  and  strong  batteries,  and 
kept  up  almost  a  constant  firing  on  the  Confederates.  The  shells 
and  balls  were  thrown  into  the  lines  of  the  Confederates,  often- 
times creating  excitement  and  anxiety.  The  Confederates  occa- 
sionally returned  the  fire.  The  Confederates  formed  a  long  line 
on  the  west  side  of  Missionary  Ridge.  This  ridge  took  its  name 
from  a  missionary  station  near  its  base,  organized  among  the  In- 
dians in  early  times.  The  full  view  of  both  armies,  numbering 
more  than  one  hundred  thousand  men,  was  a  grand  sight,  and 
filled  the  beholder  with  awe.  After  weeks  of  delay,  and  after 
Gen.  Bragg  had  sent  Gen.  Longstreet  to  Knoxville,  Gen.  Grant 
made  an  attack  on  Bragg's  army.  Bragg's  line  of  battle  was  so  long 
and  so  thin  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  maintain  his  position 
against  a  superior  force.  After  several  hours'  heavy  firing  Gen. 
Bragg  retreated  and  abandoned  the  field.  The  loss  of  his  army 
in  killed  and  wounded  was  not  so  heavy  as  that  sustained  by  Gen. 
Grant;  yet  he  was  overpowered  by  numbers  and  was  compelled 
to  retreat.  This  was  a  sad  day  with  the  Confederates.  The  army 
of  Gen.  Bragg  never  overcame  the  demoralization  of  that  day. 
True  they  reti-eated  in  pretty  good  order,  and  for  many  months 
recruited  around  Dalton,  Georgia,  and  under  the  leadership  of 
Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  who  superseded  Gen.  Bragg,  were  in- 
spired with  new  courage.  But  the  failure  to  follow  up  the  vic- 
tories at  Shiloh,  Murfreesboro,  and  Chickamauga,  and  the  retreat 
from  Missionary  Ridge,  dispirited  the  troops,  and  they  afterward 
were  not  flushed  with  strong  hopes  of  final  success.  A  retreating 
army,  with  a  constant  decrease  of  numbers  by  sickness,  death, 
and  capture,  is  not  likely  to  improve  much  in  courage.  And  yet 
in  the  face  of  all  these  discouragements  it  was  marvelous  to  note 
the  spirit  and  pluck  of  the  men. 

The  Confederate  army  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Dalton. 
Here  they  remained  until  the  month  of  May.  During  these 
many  months  the  chaplains  and  missionaries  were  at  work — ■ 
preaching,  visiting  the  sick,  and  distributing  Bibles,  tracts,  and  re 
ligious   newspapers.     Preaching  was   kept   up  in   Dalton  every 


v. 


270  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

night,  except  four,  for  nearly  four  months;  and  in  the  camps  all 
around  the  city  preaching  and  prayer-meetings  occurred  every 
night.  The  soldiers  erected  stands,  improvised  seats,  and  even 
built  log  churches,  where  they  worshiped  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth.  The  result  was  glorious;  thousands  were  happily  convert- 
ed and  were  prepared  for  the  future  that  awaited  them.  (Jrhcers 
and  men  were  alike  brought  under  religious  influence.  Our  cus- 
tom was  to  admit  persons  into  any  Church  they  might  choose, 
while  in  an  army  association  we  were  all  one.  A  good  deal  of 
my  time  was  spent  about  Dalton,  and  yet  I  traveled  up  and  down 
the  lines,  working  wherever  there  was  an  urgent  call. 

In  the  month  of  February,  1S64,  I  visited  Kingston,  Georgia, 
where  I  remained  some  twenty  days,  preaching  to  an  artillery 
command  that  had  gone  back  to  rest  and  recruit  their  horses.  I 
preached  nineteen  sermons.  We  had  a  glorious  meeting.  About 
sixty  souls  professed  conversion.  Among  the  converts  were  the 
sons  of  the  Rev.  S.  W.  Moore,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev.  Isaac  E.  Eb- 
bert,  D.D.,  friends  of  mine  in  the  Memphis  Conference;  and  also  a 
son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister.  Young  Warner  Moore  afterward 
became  a  preacher,  and  at  the  time  of  this  writing  is  a  member  of 
the  Memphis  Conference.  Young  Ebbert  w-ent  home  at  the  close 
of  the  war,  and  made  a  highly  respectable  citizen,  and  was  a  faith- 
ful member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  Three 
young  men  converted  at  this  meeting  afterward  became  preach- 
ers— one  a  Methodist  (Moore),  one  a  Presbyterian,  and  one  a  Bap- 
tist. During  our  meeting  an  Irishman  from  Grenada,  Mississippi, 
became  very  much  concerned  about  his  soul.  He  was  at  the  altar 
for  prayer,  and  when  an  opportunitv  was  given  to  unite  with  the 
Church  he  came  forward.  I  asked  his  name.  The  answer  was, 
"Patrick  O'Sullivan."  "To  what  Church  do  you  desire  to  at- 
tach yourself?"  I  asked.  He  answered,  "To  the  Holy  Roman 
Catholic  Church."  I  gave  him  a  letter  recommending  him  to  the 
fatherly  care  of  the  priests  of  the  Romish  Church.  Pat  went 
through  the  war,  and  the  last  I  heard  of  him  he  was  at  home  in 
Grenada,  Mississippi. 

My  head-quarters  were  with  Dr.  Avent,  the  surgeon  in  charge 
of  the  hospitals  at  Kingston.  He  was  from  Murfreesboro,  Ten- 
nessee; was  a  noble  Christian  man  and  a  member  of  our  Church. 
He  added  much  to  my  comfort  while  this  meeting  was  going  on. 
I  also  found  a  good  resting-place  at  the  home  of  Dr.  Harris,  in 


ROUGH  TIMES. 


277 


Kingston,  and  at  the  pleasant  residences  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Best  and 
Col.  Hawkins  Price,  in  the  vicinity.    These  families  were  more 

than  kind. 

In  all  my  life,  perhaps,  I  never  witnessed  more  displays  of 
God's  power  in  the  awakening  and  conversion  of  sinners  than  in 
these  protracted  meetings  during  the  winter  and  spring  of  1863-4. 
The  preachers  of  the  various  denominations  were  alike  zealous- 
Presbyterians,  Baptists,  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians, 
Methodists— all  at  work.  Our  army  ministerial  associations  were 
pleasant,  and  at  our  meetings  we  had  precious  seasons  of  joy  and 
rejoicing  while  recounting  the  victories  of  the  cross  of  Christ. 
The  preachers  generally  took  fare  with  the  soldiers,  marched  with 
them,  camped  with  them,  ate  with  them,  and  suffered  and  rejoiced 
with  them. 

About  the  last  of  April,  1864,  I  left  the  army  and  went  to 
Montgomery,  Alabama,  to  meet  the  Bishops  and  Board  of  Mis- 
sions In  Church  council.  On  the  way  I  visited  Atlanta,  New- 
nan,  and  La  Grange,  Georgia,  and  preached  at  all  these  places. 
At  Atlanta  a  Mr.  Steadman  gave  me  a  bolt  of  linen  (blue).  I 
had  a  suit  made  of  it  for  summer  wear.  It  was  pleasant,  but  at- 
tracted much  attention.  I  divided  the  bolt  with  a  number  of 
preachers,  who  bad  the  bosoms  of  their  shirts  made  of  the  article. 
It  was  well  suited  to  army  wear. 

At  La  Grange,  Georgia,  I  attended  a  quarterly  meeting  in 
company  with  the  Rev.  J.  Blakely  Smith.  On  Sunday  I  preached 
on  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  A  lady  was  present— Mrs.  Judge 
Bull— who  had  lost  a  son  in  the  battle  of  Manassas.  She  was 
noted  for  her  intelligence  and  piety,  but  she  had  gone  almost  into 
despair  because  of  the  loss  of  her  son;  she  went  into  retirement, 
and  for  a  long  time  had  staid  away  from  Church  until  her 
friends  had  become  greatly  concerned  about  her.  Under  the  ser- 
mon on  that  day  she  was  relieved  from  all  her  troubles,  praised 
God  aloud,  and 'said  he  had  sent  the  preacher  there  for  her  relief 
from  sorrow.  It  was  a  time  of  great  religious  comfort  in  the 
congregation.  Here  I  was  entertained  at  the  house  of  the  Hon. 
Ben.  Hill. 

At  Montgomery,  on  May  4,  1864,  we  met  four  of  the  Bishops- 
Andrew,  Paine,  Pierce,  and  Early.  A  number  of  the  members 
of  the  Mission  Board  were  also  present.  The  meeting  was  inter- 
esting.    The  condition  of  the  country  and  the  Church  was  freely 


278  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

discussed.  All  resolved  to  sustain  the  work  of  religion  in  the 
army.  Men  were  found  willing  to  go  with  the  soldiers  and  preach 
to  them  the  word  of  life,  and  there  was  no  lack  of  liberality  in 
contributing  funds.  The  hearts  and  the  purses  of  the  people  were 
open. 

While  at  Montgomery  news  came  that  the  tAvo  armies  had 
commenced  hostilities  a  few  miles  from  Dalton,  in  front  of  Rocky 
Face,  a  noted  mountain  north  of  the  town.  I  delayed  not,  but 
left  on  the  train  immediately  for  the  place  of  conflict.  I  met  the 
Confederates  at  Resaca,  and  witnessed  a  severe  skirmish  in  which 
many  were  killed  and  wounded  on  both  sides.  Here  the  Rev.  Mr. 
McMullin,  an  aged  Presbyterian  minister  who  was  a  chaplain, 
led  a  regiment  in  an  attack  upon  the  line  of  the  enemy.  He  was 
unarmed,  but  threw  himself  at  the  head  of  the  column,  followed 
by  his  son,  a  brave  young  soldier.  They  both  fell  in  battle.  The 
loss  of  the  brave  old  preacher  was  much  regretted,  but  all  judged 
the  act  by  which  he  lost  his  life  as  rash  and  needless.  At  this 
fight  Col.  Stanton,  a  chivalrous  officer  from  Tennessee,  was  killed. 
He  was  a  noble  man  and  a  special  friend  of  mine.  His  body  was 
brought  off  the  field  and  buried  during  the  night  or  the  next 
morning.     He  did  not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

From  this  time  till  about  the  ioth  of  June  there  was  almost 
constant  fighting  day  and  night.  Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston  was 
still  in  command  of  the  Confederate  army,  and  Gen.  Sherman 
was  leading  the  Federal  army.  Gen.  Johnston's  effective  forces 
were  perhaps  less  in  numbers  by  forty  thousand  than  those  of 
Gen.  Sherman.  When  Gen.  Johnston  reached  Kennesaw  Mount- 
ain, north  of  Marietta,  his  forces  fortified  and  arrested  the  prog- 
ress of  the  Federals.  Here  and  in  this  neighborhood  there  was  a 
great  deal  of  heavy  skirmishing,  and  many  lives  were  lost.  At 
New  Hope  there  was  a  ferocious  fight,  in  which  both  armies  lost 
many  brave  men.  Near  to  this  place  Bishop  (General)  Polk  was 
killed  by  a  shell.  He  was  on  Pine  Mountain,  watching  the  move- 
ments of  the  enemy  about  a  mile  distant.  Gen.  Polk  was  a  good 
man,  a  brave  officer,  and  a  skillful  general ;  but  I  always  ques- 
tioned the  propriety  of  his  enlisting  in  the  war  as  a  soldier  and 
general.  He  might  have  been  equally  useful  as  a  minister  of  the 
gospel.  So  it  was;  he  died  a  brave  soldier,  and  his  death  was 
greatly  lamented. 

From  Marietta  the  army  fell  back  to  Atlanta,  where  Gen.  John- 


ROUGH  TIMES.  279 


ston  made  a  stand,  keeping  back  Sherman  and  his  army  for  some 
time ;  but  finally  he  determined  to  evacuate  the  "  Gate  City,"  as 
Atlanta  was  called.  This  gave  dissatisfaction  at  head-quarters. 
General  Johnston  was  relieved,  and  Gen.  Hood  was  made  chief 
commander.  This  change  was  received  with  great  displeasure  by 
many  of  the  troops,  for  I  might  say  the  whole  army  was  attached 
to  Gen.  Johnston.  Gen.  Hood  was  a  younger  man,  a  brave  and 
daring  officer,  and  determined  at  once  to  make  more  rapid  and 
aggressive  movements.  After  several  heavy  skirmishes  he  re 
solved  to  flank  Sherman  by  marching  his  army  into  Middle  Ten- 
nessee and  capturing  Nashville,  and  thus  cut  off  the  supplies  of 
Sherman's  army.  He  soon  had  his  line  in  motion,  crossed  the 
Chattahoochee,  passed  through  Upper  Georgia  into  Alabama,  on 
to  Tuscumbia  and  Florence,  where  he  remained  two  weeks  or 
more.  During  all  this  marching  and  fighting  we  kept  up  religious 
service  whenever  it  was  possible  to  collect  the  men  together  We 
preached  in  Atlanta,  Macon,  Perry,  and  intermediate  points 
From  May  till  September  9  the. army  was  moving  from  Dalton 
to  Jonesboi-o,  and  I  might  say  every  foot  of  ground  was  contested. 
Thousands  in  both  armies  were  slain  in  battle  or  died  of  sickness 
along  the  line  of  march  In  the  meantime  I  visited  the  hospitals, 
and  preached  with  the  missionaries  and  chaplains  whenever  it  was 
possible  to  do  so.  During  this  period  my  health  failed  to  some 
extent,  and  I  went  back  with  my  sick  son  to  Newnan  and  Perry, 
Georgia,  where  Ave  both  remained  for  a  season  until  we  recruited 
somewhat,  and  then  we  returned  to  the  army  and  joined  the  forces 
as  they  moved  toward  Tennessee.  At  Newnan  we  were  enter- 
tained by  Maj  Clark  and  family,  and  at  Perry  we  found  a  delight- 
ful home  at  the  house  of  the  Rev.  J.  Rufus  Felder. 

In  the  march  from  Georgia  to  Nashville  we  had  but  few  oppor- 
tunities for  religious  services,  except  at  Tuscumbia  and  Florence. 
Here  for  two  weeks  we  had  refreshing  seasons.  Large  congrega- 
tions assembled  in  the  churches  and  in  camp,  and  many  souls 
were  converted  and  Christians  were  made  to  rejoice.  This  seemed 
to  be  a  preparation  for  the  disasters  that  followed. 

Leaving  Florence  November  21,  1864,  the  army  marched  rap- 
idly till  we  reached  Columbia,  Tennessee.  The  people  every- 
where hailed  the  return  of  the  Confederates  with  joy,  and  made 
many  demonstrations  of  their  great  pleasure.  Alas!  it  was  a 
short  season  of  rejoicing.     Many  of  the  brave  men  were  march' 


280  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

ing  into  the  jaws  of  death;  a  slaughter-pen  was  just  before  them. 
Tarrying  three  days  at  Columbia,  the  army  moved  to  Franklin, 
where  occurred  the  most  bloody  battle  of  the  war  in  proportion  to 
the  numbers  engaged.  Reaching  the  vicinity  of  Franklin  on  the 
evening  of  November  30,  the  fight  began  some  time  late  in  the 
afternoon  and  continued  till  a  late  hour  in  the  night,  when  the 
Federals  withdrew  and  retreated  to  Nashville.  The  slaughter 
was  terrible  on  both  sides.  The  Federals  were  strongly  fortified, 
and  the  Confederates  fought  in  an  open  field.  Thev  charged  the 
breastworks  several  times,  and  hundreds  were  shot  down  while 
the  muzzles  of  their  muskets  rested  on  the  head-logs  of  the  forti- 
fications. By  the  rising  of  the  sun  the  next  morning  I  was  pass- 
ing through  the  heaps  of  slain  soldiers,  having  spent  the  night  at 
the  field  hospital,  a  mile  distant  from  the  main  line  of  battle.  The 
sight  was  sickening,  heart-rending,  horrible,  awful.  Such  a  scene 
I  never  before  looked  upon.  I  had  witnessed  more  extensive 
fights,  but  here  the  dead  lay  in  heaps.  Many  brave  officers  fell 
in  this  bloody  fight.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Generals 
Cleburne,  Gist,  Streight,  Adams,  and  Cranberry  ;  and  others  were 
wounded.  My  son  was  unhurt,  for  which  I  gave  God  thanks; 
but  my  heart  was  sad  and  my  grief  inexpressible  at  the  loss  of 
so  many  valuable  lives.  Never  before  had  I  been  so  fully  im- 
pressed with  the  cruelty  of  Avar,  notwithstanding  I  had  witnessed 
many  bloody  fights.  The  dead  buried  and  the  wounded  provided 
for  as  well  as  possible,  the  army  moved  on  toward  Nashville- 
Gen.  Bate's  Brigade  turned  off  in  the  direction  of  Murfreesboro, 
and  I  accompanied  his  command.  Murfreesboro  was  strongly 
fortified  by  the  Federals.  Troops  were  sent  out  to  arrest  the 
progress  of  Gen.  Bate.  A  heavy  skirmish  occurred  on  Stew- 
ard's Creek.  After  an  hour  or  two  of  fighting  both  forces  re- 
tired. Gen.  Forrest  coming  to  the  assistance  of  Gen.  Bate,  and 
much  of  the  railroad  being  destroyed  between  Murfreesboro  and 
Nashville,  Gen.  Bate  moved  toward  the  latter  place,  where  he 
joined  Gen.  Hood,  who  had  formed  a  line  on  the  south  side  of  the 
city.  After  the  fight  at  Steward's  Creek  I  went  in  advance  of  the 
division  alone.  I  had  become  so  anxious  to  hear  from  my  family, 
and  hoping  by  some  good  providence  to  convey  intelligence  to 
them  that  James  and  I  were  still  alive  and  in  the  neighborhood 
of  home,  that  I  could  wait  no  longer.  The  ride  was  tiresome  and 
hazardous.     Many  thoughts  crowded  into  my  mind,  and  I  did  not 


ROUGH  TIMES.  281 


know  what  moment  I  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy ; 
but  I  passed  on,  and  reached  my  point  of  destination  safely. 
Word  was  conveyed  to  my  wife,  who  was  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Cumberland  River.  She  ran  the  blockade,  and  met  me  at  David 
McGavock's — her  cousin — on  the  7th  of  December.  This  was  a 
joyful  meeting  after  an  absence  from  each  other  of  fourteen  long 
months.  I  asked  for  the  children,  but  could  not  see  them.  We 
talked  of  war  and  home  and  many  things,  but  could  not  see  into 
the  dim  future.  I  told  her  where  I  had  been,  what  I  had  done, 
how  many  good  meetings  we  had  had,  how  I  had  waited  on  the 
sick  and  carried  rations  to  the  soldiers,  and  how  grateful  the  boys 
were.  She  listened  with  interest,  and  then,  rising  to  her  feet  and 
standing  on  tiptoe,  she  said :  "  H  usband,  stay  with  them  to  the  last !  " 
James  obtained  a  furlough,  and  spent  a  few  days  with  his 
mother.  On  the  14th  he  returned  to  the  line  of  battle,  and  on 
the  15th  the  Federals  moved  out  of  the  city  and  made  an  attack 
on  Hood.  I  had  gone  down  to  the  line  that  afternoon,  and  ex- 
pected to  return  to  David  McGavock's  that  night  or  the  next 
day ;  but  the  fight  became  fierce,  and  I  spent  a  part  of  the  night 
in  riding  to  and  fro,  and  a  part  in  sleep  at  the  house  of  W.  L. 
Ewing.  On  the  morning  of  the  16th  the  fight  became  general, 
and  continued  all  day.  Hood's  ranks  were  broken,  and  he  re- 
treated toward  Franklin.  The  confusion  was  great.  The  face  of 
the  earth  had  been  covered  with  snow  and  ice  for  several  days. 
Then  there  came  a  heavy  rain ;  the  snow  and  ice  were  melting, 
and  the  poor  soldiers — many  of  them  barefooted,  or  nearly  so  — 
moved  back  with  bleeding  feet  and  sad  hearts,  their  hopes  being 
blasted.  They  had  expected  when  they  left  Georgia  to  make  a 
successful  campaign  and  regain  their  homes  and  see  their  friends, 
but  now  it  was  over,  and  their  spirits  sunk  within  them.  My  son 
Avas  missing.  His  comrades  who  escaped  reported  him  killed  or 
captured.  His  regiment  occupied  the  last  position  taken  by  the 
enemy,  and  his  felloAv-soldiers  could  give  no  satisfactory  report  of 
him.  My  wife,  I  heard,  was  still  on  the  south  side  of  the  river 
when  the  Federal  cavalry  approached  and  cut  off  retreat  in  the-' 
direction  of  the  children,  so  I  was  not  certain  of  her  fate,  suppos- 
ing it  possible  that  she  might  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy.  In  this  state  of  uncertainty  I  turned  my  back  on  home, 
and  with  downcast  spirits  accompanied  the  retreating  army.  On 
we  went  in  the  rain,  in  the  snow,  swollen  streams,  and  roads  al" 


282  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

most  impassable.  We  passed  Franklin,  Columbia,  Pulaski,  and 
•were  pushing  on  to  cross  the  Tennessee  River,  knowing  that  the 
Federals  were  in  pursuit.  The  Rev.  William  Burr,  W.  Mooney, 
Felix  R.  Hill,  and  myself  formed  a  party,  and  moved  on  in  a 
squad  together.  Turning  aside,  south  of  Pulaski,  to  the  home  of 
Mrs.  Jones,  the  -widow  of  one  of  our  preachers — a  quiet  and  re- 
tired place — we  spent  the  night.  The  next  morning  my  horse 
was  gone.  He  had  been  stolen,  and  I  was  left  afoot.  What 
shall  be  done?  A  citizen  close  by  had  a  horse  hid  out.  He 
could  be  bought  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  Tennessee 
money,  but  no  Confederate  money  would  be  taken.  I  had  Con- 
federate, but  no  Tennessee  funds.  But  Mrs.  Jones  offered  to  lend 
me  the  amount.  The  horse  was  brought  in,  and  we  -were  soon  on 
the  way,  crossing  the  Tennessee  River,  which  was  very  full,  on  a 
pontoon  bridge. 

In  company  with  several  friends  in  the  quartermaster's  depart- 
ment I  went  to  Columbus,  Mississippi,  where  I  rested,  and  se- 
cured a  new  supply  of  clothing;  remained  three  or  four  weeks 
waiting  for  the  army  to  swing  round  by  Corinth  and  Tupelo,  Mis- 
sissippi. I  preached  many  sermons  in  Columbus,  and  received 
many  evidences  of  hospitality.  The  Rev.  A.  S.  Andrews,  D.D., 
who  was  the  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Church,  gave  me  much  at- 
tention. The  ladies  fitted  me  out  with  a  new  suit  of  brown  jeans, 
which,  though  not  fine,  Avas  comfortable,  and  came  in  "  the  nick 
of  time."  Long  did  I  wait  in  painful  anxiety  to  hear  from  my 
wife  and  son.  A  scout  had  promised  to  send  me  word.  He  was 
true.  At  last  a  note  came :  "  Wife  reached  her  children  in  safety ; 
all  well;  James  captured  and  taken  to  a  Northern  prison. — W." 
O  the  joy !  O  the  relief  to  know  that  both  were  alive,  and  that  no 
worse  harm  had  befallen  either  of  them ! 

In  the  meantime  my  stolen  horse  had  been  recovered,  and  with 
«i  small  company  I  went  to  Columbus,  Georgia,  and  on  to  Au- 
gusta. Here  I  remained,  visiting  the  hospitals  and  preaching  a 
few  times,  and  making  arrangements  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  H. 
Myers — the  Assistant  Treasurer  of  our  Missionary  Society — for 
the  pavment  of  our  army  missionaries.  Confederate  money  had 
gone  down  till  it  was  worth  but  little;  but  it  was  all  Ave  had,  and 
every  thing  to  eat  and  wear  cost  heavily.  At  Augusta  I  met  sev- 
eral chaplains  and  missionaries  working  in  the  hospitals  and  wait- 
ing till  they  could  join  the  moving  forces.     Having  accomplished 


ROUGH  TIMES.  283 


-what  I  could,  I  moved  on  across  the  State  of  South  Carolina  that 
I  might  meet  the  Confederate  army  as  it  moved  into  North  Car- 
olina, with  the  evident  intention  of  uniting,  if  possible,  with  the 
army  of  Gen.  Lee  in  Virginia.  Gen.  Joseph  E.  Johnston  had 
been  restored  to  the  chief  command,  and  the  soldiers  were  flushed 
with  the  hope  of  a  junction  with  the  Virginia  forces.  Johnston's 
aim  was  to  flank  Sherman  and  make  the  junction  with  Lee  as 
soon  as  possible ;  but  in  the  midst  of  all  these  hopes  news  came  to 
Gen.  Johnston  that  Gen.  Lee  had  surrendered  to  Gen.  Grant. 
But  one  alternative  was  left.  Gen.  Johnston  was  compelled  to 
surrender  to  Gen.  Sherman  or  lose  the  remnant  of  his  army, 
which  had  been  reduced  by  sickness  and  death  to  a  small  force 
compared  with  the  forces  of  the  enemy.  Gen.  Johnston,  having 
swept  around  by  way  of  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  halted  at 
Greensboro,  entered  into  a  treaty,  and  surrendered  all  his  forces. 
The  news  of  the  surrender  of  the  two  favorite  commanders  fell 
like  a  pall  of  death  upon  the  troops  and  upon  the  Southern  coun- 
try. But  the  war  was  ended,  and  the  Confederate  States  and  the 
Confederate  army  were  conquered.  While  the  terms  of  the  sur- 
render were  being  settled  the  Confederates  were  encamped  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Greensboro,  where  I  preached  several  sermons 
to  different  commands.  While  I  dwelt  on  such  passages  as  "  Here 
we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come,"  many 
hearts  were  moved.  At  the  close  of  one  sermon  to  a  Texas  bri- 
gade a  fine-looking  soldier  stepped  up  to  me,  and  taking  me  by 
the  hand,  said:  "We  thank  you  for  your  attention  to  the  soldiers; 
we  thank  you  for  your  sermons.  All  over  now.  I  will  never  see 
you  again.  God  bless  you!  Good-by!"  Loosing  his  hand,  he 
left  a  silver  quarter  in  mine,  and  turned  instantly  away.  He  had 
drawn  the  day  before  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  in  specie, 
and  thus  gave  one-fifth 'of  the  amount.  Noble  spirit!  I  brought 
the  quarter  home  and  gave  it  to  my  wife,  stating  to  her  that  that 
was  the  result  of  the  war.  She  has  that  quarter  at  the  time  of 
this  writing. 

All  the  terms  of  the  surrender  settled,  we  soon  made  prepara- 
tions for  moving  toward  our  home.  Each  soldier  was  paroled. 
Gen.  Palmer,  of  Murfreesboro,  put  me  on  his  staff,  and  hence  I 
was  allowed  to  keep  my  horse,  and  I  accompanied  the  Tennessee 
troops  led  by  the  General.  We  crossed  the  mountains,  most  of 
the  men  on  foot,  and  passing  Asheville,  North  Carolina,  we  ar- 


284:  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

rived  at  Greeneville,  Tennessee.  Here  I  camped  out  for  my  last 
night  during  the  dreadful  war.  The  march  across  the  mountains 
was  heavy,  but  the  men  bore  up  with  great  fortitude.  The  idea 
of  getting  home,  though  a  conquered  home,  stimulated  the  brave 
fellows  who  had  been  in  many  hard-fought  battles. 

At  Greeneville  the  horses  and  wagons  were  taken  by  the  Fed- 
eral officer  having  charge  of  that  post.  The  General  and  his  staff 
were  allowed  to  retain  theirs.  This  gave  me  the  privilege  of  put- 
ting my  horse  on  the  train  and  having  it  shipped  to  Chattanooga. 
At  Chattanooga  an  order  was  passed,  or  pretended  to  have  been 
passed,  that  the  officers  were  required  to  pay  ten  cents  per  mile 
freight  on  each  horse  from  Chattanooga  to  Nashville,  notwith- 
standing it  was  stipulated  at  Greeneville  that  the  horses  were  to  be 
shipped  to  Nashville.  The  officers  of  the  army  had,  I  supposed, 
full  control  of  the  road.  No  doubt  it  was  believed  that  the  Con- 
federates could  not  raise  the  money  to  meet  the  charges,  and 
therefore  would  lose  their  stock.  But  they  found  friends,  and  we 
borrowed  the  money  and  paid  the  freight  in  advance,  fifteen  dol- 
lars and  ten  cents  for  each  horse — a  round  price — but  Ave  saved 
our  horses,  which  were  worth  more  to  us  than  the  cost  of  trans- 
portation. 

We  reached  Nashville  late  at  night,  and  found  friends  to  take 
us  in.  It  was  now  the  20th  of  May,  1865.  My  family  were  seven 
miles  in  the  country,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  N.  P.  Gee.  I  could  not 
leave  the  city  without  a  pass,  as  sentinels  were  placed  at  every 
street  leading  to  the  country.  As  soon  as  the  way  was  open  I 
left  and  made  my  way  to  my  family.  I  met  them  all  except 
James,  who  was  still  a  prisoner  in  Camp  Douglas,  Chicago.  Our 
meeting  was  joyful.  It  had  now  been  more  than  three  vears  since 
we  left  home,  and  nearly  two  years  since  I  Kad  parted  with  some 
of  the  children.  Through  all  the  casualties  of  war  we  had  all 
been  spared;  and  though  we  had  lost  most  of  our  property,  out- 
lives had  been  preserved.  My  family  were  boarding,  and  had 
seen  some  hard  times  during  the  great  struggle.  Sometimes  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Nashville  and  sometimes  out,  they  scarcely 
knew  where  to  call  home.  My  dwelling-house  adjoining  Nash- 
ville, in  Edgefield,  as  it  was  then  called,  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Cumberland  River,  had  been  taken  for  a  hospital  or  pest-house. 
My  fences  and  out-houses  were  nearly  all  destroyed,  and  my  beau- 
tiful grove  of  twenty  acres  was  utterly  laid  waste.     Now  it  was 


ROUGH  TIMES,  285 


occupied  by  refugees  and  held  by  the  Government  as  abandoned 
property  They  seized  it,  held  it,  and  declared  it  abandoned.  The 
house,  of  course,  was  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  but  by  an  ar- 
rangement with  the  agent  my  brother,  A.  P.  McFerrin,  leased  or 
rented  the  house,  with  the  understanding  that  I  was  to  occupy  it. 
So  soon  as  the  refugees  left  it  an  old  woman,  who  was  following 
the  army  with  beer  and  whisky,  entered  and  took  possession  of 
the  premises,  where  she  kept  a  tippling- shop  and  a  dance-house 
till  she  was  removed  by  the  military.  Then  my  house  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  and  the  deso  ation  of  our  home  made  complete. 
The  house  was  burned  on  Sunday  morning  about  daylight.  I  had 
an  appointment  to  preach  that  day  at  "  City  Road."  My  sermon 
had  been  prepared  from  a  chosen  text:  "  Here  have  we  no  contin- 
uing city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come."  Nowise  disconcerted,  I 
met  a  large  congregation,  delivered  my  sermon,  and  saw  many 
of  my  old  friends.  I  shed  no  tears  over  the  ashes  of  my  burned 
house,  but  rejoiced  in  hope  of  living  in  a  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  Now  for  keeping  house  some- 
where, that  I  could  have  my  family  around  me  once  more.  Mr. 
McGavock's  house  was  also  in  the  hands  of  the  Federals.  After 
some  time  and  effort,  it  was  surrendered  to  the  owner,  when  the 
two  families  went  in  and  began  life  anew.  Horses  gone,  cattle 
gone,  fences  gone,  timber  gone,  money  gone,  servants  gone — the 
outlook  was  unpromising.  Nothing  daunted,  however,  we  went 
to  work  to  make  a  living,  if  not  able  to  repair  our  fortunes.  What 
real  estate  I  had  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Government,  to  be  con- 
fiscated or  restored  at  some  future  time — no  telling  which. 

Not  having  possession  of  our  property,  we  could  not  use  it  in 
any  way  for  our  own  benefit.  The  Publishing  House,  too,  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  Government,  and  hence  we  could  transact  no 
business  there.  October  came.  The  Tennessee  Conference,  that 
had  not  convened  for  two  years,  met  at  Tulip  Street  Church,  Edge- 
field, Bishop  Kavanaugh  presiding.  The  house  was  in  an  unfin- 
ished condition,  but  it  was  our  only  chance,  as  McKendree  was 
occupied  by  Northern  preachers.  The  Conference  closed,  and  the 
Bishop  read  me  out  as  Book  Agent — an  agent  without  a  house  or 
goods  to  sell!  Soon  after  the  adjournment  I  went  to  Washington 
City.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  assassinated,  and  Andrew  Johnson 
elevated  to  the  Presidency.  The  Confederates  had  surrendered, 
and  it  was  doubtful  what  Congress  might  order,  or  what  would 


286  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

be  the  policy  of  the  Administration.  It  was  soon  made  manifest, 
however,  that  Mr.  Johnson  intended,  as  far  as  possible,  to  favor 
the  Southern  people  and  restore  the  seceding  States  to  the  Union. 
He  issued  proclamations  and  announced  the  conditions  on  which 
Southern  rebels  should  be  pardoned,  restored  to  citizenship,  and 
have  their  property  restored  to  them.  My  friends  applied  for  me, 
and  Gov.  Brownlow,  an  inveterate  Republican,  joined  in  the  re- 
quest, and  Mr.  Johnson  signed  my  paper.  I  was  one  of  the  first 
persons  in  the  State  of  Tennessee  so  favored.  Encouraged  by 
this,  T  visited  Washington  in  the  interest  of  the  Publishing  House, 
and  had  a  brief  interview  with  Mr.  Johnson.  He  requested  me 
to  make  a  brief  statement  of  facts  in  writing,  which  I  did,  and  left 
for  home.  It  was  but  a  few  days  till  he  sent  an  order  to  the  post 
commander  to  restore  the  House  to  the  authorities  of  the  Church. 
I  immediately,  in  connection  with  R.  Abbey,  took  possession,  and 
began  to  set  things  in  order.  We  refitted  the  book-store  and  re- 
sumed the  publication  of  the  Christian  Advocate. 

On  my  way  from  Washington  City,  in  company  with  the  Hon. 
Milton  Brown,  of  Jackson,  Tennessee,  I  received  a  very  serious 
hurt,  that  well-nigh  proved  to  be  fatal.  At  the  Relay  House,  near 
Baltimore,  we  purposed  changing  cars  for  the  West,  having  taken 
the  train  at  Washington  City  in  the  evening  about  8  o'clock.  On 
arriving  at  the  junction  where  we  were  to  change  cars  the  con- 
ductor failed,  as  I  believed,  to  give  the  usual  notice,  and  perceiv- 
ing by  lamp-light  that  we  had  reached  the  Relay  House,  I  arose 
from  my  seat,  and  with  baggage  in  hand  asked  the  conductor  if  I 
could  make  the  change.  He  had  just  rung  his  bell  for  starting, 
but  said  I  could  jump  from  the  platform,  and  held  his  lantern  and 
directed  me  how  to  make  the  jump.  As  I  leaped  from  the  car  I 
careened  and  fell  upon  the  platform  beside  the  railroad,  and  was 
so  shocked  that  I  was  unable  to  arise  and  walk  to  the  office,  a  few 
feet  from  the  place  of  the  accident.  A  wood-sawyer  happened 
to  pass  at  the  moment,  raised  me  up,  and  bore  me  along  to  the 
station.  I  was  severely  hurt,  but  was  not  aware  of  the  extent  of 
the  injury.  Judge  Brown,  who  was  an  old  railroad  President, 
made  the  conductor  stop  the  train,  and  he  got  off  in  quiet,  but 
supposed  I  had  gone  to  Baltimore.  Seeing  my  condition,  he  in- 
sisted that  I  should  go  to  the  hotel  near  at  hand ;  but  I  thought 
it  was  only  a  shock,  and  that  I  would  soon  recover.  Within  a  few 
moments  the  Western-bound  train  came  up,  and  I  was  placed  on 


ROUGH  TIMES. 


287 


the  sleeper,  where  I  spent  about  the  most  painfully-suffering 
night  of  my  life.  About  sunrise  the  train  reached  Cumberland, 
Maryland.  I  requested  to  be  taken  from  the  train  and  carried  to 
the  "hotel.  I  sent  for  a  physician,  who  examined  me  carefully 
and  said  no  bones  were  broken  and  no  joints  dislocated,  but  that 
my  whole  nervous  system  was  shocked.  He  treated  me  kindly, 
and  would  receive  nothing  for  his  attention.  The  landlord,  too, 
was  kind,  and  would  receive  no  pay  for  my  entertainment.  The 
colored  boy  who  waited  on  my  room  was  from  Gallatin,  Tennes- 
see. He  was  very  attentive,  especially  when  he  learned  that  I 
was  from  Tennessee.  He  waited  on  me  faithfully,  and  gave  me, 
when  I  left  the  hotel,  a  crutch  that  had  been  used  by  a  wounded 
soldier.  This  I  found  to  be  an  important  help  on  my  journey 
home  and  for  weeks  after  my  arrival  at  Nashville.  ^  The  doctor, 
the  hotel-keeper,  and  the  young  darky  all  have  my  gratitude, 
and  I  will  never  forget  their  kindness.  The  colored  boy,  of  course, 
was  compensated,  but  he  had  served  me  faithfully  without  much 
promise  of  reward.  Having  rested  for  two  or  three  days,  I  was 
carried  and  put  on  the  train,  and  after  a  painful  journey  reached 
home  in  a  disabled  condition.  From  this  dreadful  shock  I  did 
not  fully  recover  for  years.  My  nerves  seemed  to  be  unstrung  or 
wrought  up  to  the  highest  state  of  excitement.  I  lost  flesh  to  the 
amount  of  sixty  pounds.  My  liver  was  out  of  order,  and  my  com- 
plexion sallow.  Indeed,  many  of  my  friends  predicted  that  my 
days  were  nearly  numbered  and  that  I  would  never  be  well  again. 
But  I  had  faith  in  God,  and  believed  if  I  acted  prudently  I  would 
recover.  I  was  not  afraid  to  die.  No,  blessed  be  God !  my  sky 
was  clear  and  my  hope  unshaken ;  but  I  wanted  to  live  for  a  sea- 
son that  I  might  put  my  family  in  condition  to  be  above  want. 
Several  of  my  children  were  to  be  educated,  a  home  was  to  be 
fitted  up,  financial  matters  were  to  be  arranged,  and  provision  gen- 
erally had  to  be  made ;  and  besides,  I  did  not  feel  that  my  work  was 
done.  So  I  kept  in  good  heart,  worked  when  able,  rested  when  I 
could  not  work,  and  thus  passed  the  winter,  and  made  prepara- 
tions as  far  as  possible  for  the  approaching  General  Conference. 
The  Rev.  R.  Abbey  still  remained  with  me,  and  did  much  valua- 
ble service. 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1866. 


rT^HE  General  Conference  convened  in  New  Orleans  in  April, 
X  1S66.  My  brethren  honored  me  again  by  placing  me  in  the 
delegation.  In  due  time  I  was  at  the  seat  of  the  Conference,  and 
was  in  mv  place  all  the  time,  though  in  feeble  condition.  The 
session  was  important.  The  Conference  appointed  to  meet  in  the 
same  citv  in  1S62  failed  to  convene  because  of  the  war.  The  con- 
flict was  now  over,  but  the  political  elements  of  the  country  were 
in  a  fearful  state  of  excitement,  and  the  Church  and  the  General 
Conference  were  not  insensible  of  the  fact.  The  body  moved 
with  caution  and  great  circumspection;  but,  owing  to  the  unset- 
tled condition  of  affairs,  the  minds  of  many  of  the  brethren  seemed 
to  be  restless,  and  many  changes  and  modifications  in  our  Church 
polity  were  suggested.  A  few  brethren  seemed  resolved  to  change 
many  of  the  long-standing  rules  and  usages  of  the  Church.  The 
debates  were  animated,  but  conservative  measures  finally  prevailed 
to  a  large  extent.  Here  lay  representation  was  introduced.  I 
favored  its  introduction,  with  certain  restrictions  and  limitations^ 
I  was  on  the  committee  that  framed  the  law  as  it  now  stands  in 
the  Discipline,  with  a  slight  modification.  In  the  committee- 
room  the  discussion  at  one  time  became  sharp;  but  the  point  in 
the  committee  and  before  the  General  Conference  was  carried — 
that  the  laity  in  the  Annual  Conferences  should  not  be  allowed 
to  vote  on  "ministerial  character  or  relations."  So  it  passed,  and 
so  the  Annual  Conferences  passed  it,  and  it  thus  became  a  law 
governing  the  action  of  the  Annual  Conferences.  The  argument 
swaying  the  minds  of  a  majority  of  the  committee  and  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  was  that  in  the  work  of  the  itinerant  ministry 
itinerants  should  be  clothed  with  power  to  pass  on  the  character 
and  fix  the  relations  of  their  fellow-laborers;  or,  according  to  the 
general  tenor  of  Methodist  law,  every  man  should  be  tried  by  his 
peers.  "  Local  men,"  said  Bishop  Soule,  "  have  local  views."  At 
the  General  Conference  in  Memphis,  in  1S70,  the  word  "  relations  " 
(288) 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1866.       289 


was  left  out  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Revisals.  This 
I  did  not  observe  at  the  time  the  report  was  read  and  that  part 
thereof  adopted.  I  think  changing  the  law  at  that  time  and  in 
that  manner  was  unconstitutional.  The  General  Conference  of 
1S66  had  framed  and  passed  the  law  by  a  constitutional  majority, 
and  sent  it  round  to  the  Annual  Conferences  for  concurrence. 
The  Annual  Conferences,  by  a  constitutional  majority,  had  con- 
curred, and  thus  the  new  rule  became  the  law  of  the  Church,  and 
I  think  it  could  not  be  altered  without  the  vote  of  the  constitu- 
tional majority  in  the  General  and  Annual  Conferences. 

The  General  Conference  of  1866,  I  think,  made  a  mistake  in 
extending  the  time  of  the  pastorate  from  two  to  four  years.  I 
think  this  rule  greatly  embarrasses  the  Bishops  in  their  work  of  sta- 
tioning the  preachers.  Many  men  now  think,  when  they  are  in 
good  appointments,  that  to  be  changed  before  four  years  expire 
degrades  them ;  and  many  who  are  in  hard  appointments  think  it 
oppressive  for  them  to  be  kept  four  years  on  an  inferior  work.  I, 
perhaps,  will  never  see  the  old  rule  restored,  but  I  wish  the  law 
was  the  same  as  in  former  times,  not  that  I  have  any  personal  in- 
terest in  the  matter,  but  for  the  good  of  the  whole  Connection. 

We  had  another  great  struggle  at  New  Orleans  on  the  pub- 
lishing interests  of  the  Church.  The  Publishing  House  had  pros- 
peredup  to  the  time  the  Federal  troops  reached  Nashville.  When 
they  occupied  the  city,  of  course  the  business  was  suspended,  and 
not' long  thereafter  the  Federal  authorities  took  possession  of  the 
establishment,  and  held  and  used  it  in  the  interest  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  army.  Much  of  the  stock  and"  material  had  been 
used  up,  and  the  machinery  greatly  injured.  Besides,  the  South 
had  been  greatly  impoverished  by  the  war,  and  the  business  of 
the  House  prostrated.  The  question  arose  whether,  in  view  of  all 
the  surroundings,  the  House  should  be  continued  or  sold  out,  and 
let  the  Church  have  its  printing  done  by  contract.  The  debates 
were  long  and  spirited.  I  took  part  in  the  discussion,  and  favored 
the  continuance  of  the  House.  This  side  prevailed,  and  it  was 
resolved  to  make  a  strong  effort  to  sustain  the  establishment.  In 
view  of  my  feeble  health,  I  positively  declined  the  nomination  for 
re-election.  My  physical  condition  at  that  time  would  not  allow 
me  to  entertain  the  thought  of  again  entering  upon  a  business 
so  onerous  and  so  important  to  the  Church.  A.  H.  Redford,  D.D  , 
was  elected. 
19 


290  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

The  missionary  work  at  this  General  Conference  was  divided 
into  two  Boards — Foreign  and  Domestic.  The  Domestic  Board 
was  to  take  charge  of  all  the  home  missionary  work,  and  was  to 
co-operate  with  the  Annual  Conferences  and  Bishops  in  supply- 
ing destitute  places.  This  Board  was  located  at  Nashville.  To  the 
secretaryship  of  this  Board  I  was  elected  without  solicitation  on  my 
part.  Indeed,  I  did  not  anticipate  the  appointment,  and  had  no  idea 
of  being  elected  till  a  few  moments  before  the  vote  was  taken. 

Four  new  Bishops  were  elected  at  this  General  Conference— 
namely:  Revs.  W.  M.  Wightman,  of  South  Carolina;  E.  M.  Mar- 
vin, of  Missouri;  D.  S.  Doggett, of  Virginia;  and  H.  N.  McTyeire, 
of  Alabama — all  good  men.  Two  of  them  at  the  time  of  this 
writing  are  in  their  graves,  having  finished  their  work.  Bishop 
Wightman  is  feeble.  Bishop  McTyeire  is  yet  in  good  health.  In 
the  election  of  Bishops  quite  a  number  of  votes  were  cast  for  me, 
and  I  was  assured  by  many  friends  that  had  my  health  been  good 
I  would  certainly  have  been  elected  by  a  large  vote.  How  far 
this  was  true  I  do  not  pretend  to  know.  Nor  is  it  a  matter  that 
gives  me  much  concern.  It  is  pleasant  to  have  the  love  and  con- 
fidence of  your  brethren,  and  it  is  lawful  "  to  covet  earnestly  the 
best  gifts,"  if  they  be  desired  for  purposes  of  good.  The  office  of 
Bishop  in  our  Church  is  considered  an  honorable  position,  and  is 
certainly  an  open  door  to  great  usefulness,  provided  one  has  the 
proper  qualifications  and  is  well  adapted  to  the  vocation;  but  it  is 
a  place  of  toil  and  many  delicate  responsibilities.  Few  men  in 
our  Connection  have  had  better  opportunities  than  myself  of 
knowing  the  difficulties  and  thankless  nature  of  the  work  of  our 
General  Superintendents;  and  I  here  record  that,  in  view  of  all 
the  "  ups  and  downs,"  I  feel  very  thankful  that  I  was  never  put 
into  the  office.  Moreover,  I  believe  in  the  direction  and  control  of 
Providence,  and  that  God  shapes  the  course  of  those  who  seek  to 
follow  the  leadings  of  his  Spirit.  I  have  no  regret,  no  mortifica- 
tion ;  have  realized  no  disappointment  in  any  of  my  connections 
with  the  work  of  the  ministry.  I  have  been  placed  in  positions 
above  what  I  considered  my  qualifications,  and  only  console  my- 
self, first,  that  I  never  sought  preferment;  and,  secondly,  that  in 
whatever  place  I  have  been  found  it  was  the  order  of  my  breth- 
ren and,  I  trust,  the  will  of  God.  I  have  known  many  men  to 
fail  and  lose  their  power  for  usefulness  by  being  elevated  to  posi- 
tions without  ability  to  meet  the  demands  upon  them. 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1866.        291 


The  General  Conference  over,  I   returned  home,  soon  organ- 
ized the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions,  and  entered  upon  my  work. 
I  visited  the  Annual  Conferences,  District  Conferences,  and  as 
many  popular  meetings  as  I  could.     My  health  soon  began  to  im- 
prove, and  I  came  up  slowly  but  surely.     For  a  time  I   sat  and 
preached,  or  leaning  upon  the  pulpit  or  on  my  stick  I  did  the  best 
I  could.     I  was  allowed  ten  per  cent,  on  the  collections  for  Do- 
mestic Missions  in  each  Conference.     The  remainder  was  under 
the  control  of  the  Annual  Conferences.     These  Boards  and  the 
Bishops  applied  the  money  as  they  chose.     With  the  ten  per  cent. 
I  was  to  pay  all  my  traveling  expenses,  my  printing-bill,  postage, 
stationery,   room-rent — every  thing;  and  my  salary,  too,  was   to 
come  out  of  this  fund.     In  the  four  years  these  expenses  were  all 
met,  and  a  surplus  of  several  thousand  dollars  was  turned  over 
to  the  general  work.     Dr.  Sehon,  for  a  time,  and  then  Drs.  Cun- 
nyngham  and  Munsey  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  Foreign  Board, 
which  was  located  at  Baltimore.     Dr.   Cunnyngham,  however, 
only  acted  as  a  corresponding  Secretary.     The  interests  of  the 
Foreign  Board  suffered  from  an  unfortunate  move  of  its  Treas- 
urer, W.  T.  Smithson.     He  invested  eleven  thousand  dollars  of 
the  money  in  his  hands  as  Treasurer  in   some  sort  of  stocks,  in- 
tending, he  said,  to  double  the  sum  for  the  benefit  of  the  Board ; 
but,  unfortunately,  he  lost  it  all.     He  was  never  able  to  replace 
the  money — since  dead ;  a  total  loss.     Why  any  one  intrusted  with 
funds  of  the  Church  should  venture  to  make  such  a  speculation 
is  wonderful.     He  was  a  sanguine  man,  and  I  suppose  intended 
well;  but  the  mistake  was  sad.     Another  great  trouble  was  that 
at  the  end  of  the  war  our  Missionary  Society  found  itself  in  debt 
some  seventy  or  eighty  thousand  dollars.     We  had  money  in  the 
treasury  more  than  sufficient  to  meet  all  the  liabilities  of  the  So- 
ciety, but  it  was  worthless,  being  Confederate  money  and  bonds. 
It  devolved  on  the  Secretary  of  the  Foreign   Board  to  raise  the 
money  to  pay  this  old  debt.     This  was  a  heavy  undertaking,  and 
had  a  tendency  to  crush  the  operations  of  the  Board  and  discour- 
age the   Secretary.     In   the  midst  of  this   he   resigned,   and  the 
office  of    Secretary  was    left  vacant  for  a   time — only  Dr.   Cun- 
nyngham kept  up  the  correspondence  to  some  extent.     Dr.  W.  E. 
Munsey  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  one  year  before  the  meet- 
ing of  the  General  Conference. 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  1870. 


"IT  7" HEN  the  General  Conference  came  on  at  Memphis,  in 
"  *  1870,  a  strong  and  successful  effort  was  made  to  consoli- 
date the  two  Boards,  and  have  but  one  Secretary.  The  move- 
ment called  forth  protracted  discussions  in  the  Committee  on  Mis- 
sions and  in  the  General  Conference.  I  rather  favored  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  two  Boards,  for  the  reasons:  (1)  That  the  experi- 
ment had  not  been  fairly  tested ;  and  (2)  that  our  people  in  many 
places  in  the  weaker  Conferences  needed  help,  and  we  had  no 
Church  Extension  Society.  I,  however,  quietly  submitted  to  the 
decision  of  the  General  Conference  that  there  should  be  but  one 
Board.  I  was  fully  satisfied,  however,  that  there  should  be  two 
Secretaries.  There  was  a  heavy  debt  still  hanging  over  the  old 
Society.  Our  Mission  in  China  was  springing  into  new  life,  and 
there  were  pressing  calls  in  other  directions,  as  well  as  a  growing 
work  on  the  frontier,  and  I  believed  there  was  full  work  for  two 
efficient  Secretaries;  nor  have  I  till  this  day  changed  my  opinion. 
Ideas  of  economy  prevailed,  and  it  was  resolved  to  have  but  one 
Secretary  and  one  Board.  As  I  afterward  more  fully  learned, 
the  plans  had  alreadv  been  matured,  and  it  was  understood  that 
the  two  Boards  consolidated  into  one  should  be  located  at  Nash- 
ville, and  Dr.  Munsey  was  to  be  elected  Secretary.  For  some 
reason,  I  can  not  tell  what,  this  movement  was  not  made  known 
to  me ;  perhaps  it  was  out  of  respect  to  my  feelings,  or  perhaps  it 
was  a  matter  of  forgetfulness.  At  any  rate,  I  only  guessed  or 
conjectured  that  some  plan  was  on  foot  that  I  had  not  fully  un- 
derstood. Dr.  Munsey  was  now  Secretary  of  the  Foreign  Board, 
having  been  in  office  one  year.  He  was  in  the  midst  of  great  pop- 
ularity, and  his  friends  believed  he  would  make  a  successful  Sec- 
retary and  do  much,  especially  toward  paying  off  the  old  debt.  I 
was  no  candidate,  but  I  knew  some  of  my  friends  intended  to 
nominate  me  for  the  office.  Had  the  brethren  in  the  lead  of  the 
other  movement  mentioned  the  matter  to  me,  I  would  have  de- 
(292) 


THE  GENERAL  CONFERENCE  OF  iSjo.       293 

clined  the  nomination  altogether,  and  -would  have  given  Dr.  Mun- 
sey  my  support,  or  I  would  have  harmonized  in  the  election  of 
any  one  thought  to  be  the  most  suitable  person ;  but  I  never  fa- 
vored any  secret  plans  or  combinations,  and  made  up  my  mind 
to  be  still  and  abide  the  decision  of  my  brethren  and  the  direction 
of  Providence.  The  motives  of  the  brethren  I  did  not  question, 
the  manner  of  procedure  I  did  not  approve;  but  I  felt  that  all 
would  end  right  so  far  as  I  was  concerned.  There  were  wide 
fields  and  plenty  of  work  in  every  direction,  and  I  had  a  longing 
desire  to  be  in  the  pastoral  work  again.  When  the  election  came 
on  four  persons  were  nominated:  Dr.  Munsey,  Dr.  Sehon,  Dr. 
Cunnyngham,  and  myself.  The  three  brethren  put  in  nomina- 
tion were  all  prominent,  good  men,  and  all  my  friends;  but  Dr. 
Munsey  was  considered  the  most  prominent,  and  his  election  was 
confidently  expected.  On  the  first  ballot  Dr.  Munsey  received 
46  votes;  Dr.  Cunnyngham,  31;  Dr.  Sehon,  4;  and  McFerrin,  74; 
some  scattering;  156  votes  cast.  No  election.  On  the  second 
ballot  Munsey  received  50  votes;  Cunnyngham,  14;  L.  Parker,  4; 
McFerrin,  87.  Whole  number  of  votes  cast,  154;  necessary  to  a 
choice,  7S.  This  election,  under  the  circumstances,  was  very  grat- 
ifying to  me.  I  had  been  taken  out  of  the  pastoral  work  while  a 
young  man.  I  had  been  kept  in  the  editorial  chair,  the  Book 
Agency,  and  the  Missionary  Secretaryship  for  many  years,  and  I 
regarded  this  as  a  vindication  of  my  course. 

A  new  Board  of  Missions  was  formed,  and  located  at  Nash- 
ville— the  whole  to  be  under  the  guidance  of  one  Secretary.  Here 
was  heavy  work.  The  Missions,  Foreign  and  Domestic,  were  to 
be  sustained,  and  the  remainder  of  the  old  debt — between  thirty 
and  forty  thousand  dollars — to  be  provided  for.  The  finances  of 
the  Church  were  greatly  reduced,  the  people  well-nigh  exhausted, 
and  increasing  demands  were  upon  them.  But  it  was  no  time  to 
yield  to  despair.  We  went  to  work,  the  Church  rallied,  and  be- 
fore the  second  year  had  expired  the  old  debts  were  liquidated, 
and  the  Church  relieved  from  a  burdensome  debt  that  for  years 
had  weighted  down  and  clogged  the  wheels  of  our  great  mission- 
ary movement. 

During  the  four  years  I  visited  nearly  all  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences, many  District  Conferences,  and  other  popular  meetings. 

During  all  these  years  I  preached  many  sermons,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  spiritual  progress  of  the  Church.     Our  Missions 


294  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

in  China  were  revived  and  strengthened,  our  border  work  was  en- 
larged, and  we  began  the  great  missionary  enterprise  in  Mexico. 

The  payment  of  the  old  debt  was  regarded  a  great  triumph. 
Thereby  the  honor  of  the  Church  was  maintained  and  the  credit- 
ors relieved.  Dr.  Carlton,  one  of  the  Book  Agents  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  had  indorsed  largely  for  our  Society,  and 
had  paid  the  claims.     He  was  re-imbursed  and  his  credit  saved. 

At  the  General  Conference  Dr.  J.  C.  Keener  was  elected  Bishop, 
and  became  one  of  our  active,  working  General  Superintendents. 
He  had  much  to  do  in  establishing  our  Missions  in  Mexico. 


MEASURES  AND  MEN. 


IN  May,  1S74,  the  General  Conference  convened  at  Louisville, 
Kentucky.  I  was  one  of  the  delegates  from  my  Conference,  the 
brethren  kindly  placing  my  name  at  the  head  of  the  list.  We 
had  a  strong  delegation,  clerical  and  lay.  I  was  made  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Temperance.  We  had  some  able  discus- 
sions on  the  subject  of  intemperance  and  the  propriety  of  more 
stringent  rules  on  the  sale  and  use  of  intoxicating  liquors.  The 
General  Conference,  however,  determined  that  our  General  Rules, 
and  the  uniform  administration  of  the  law  in  accordance  with  said 
Rules,  were  fully  sufficient  testimony  on  the  part  of  the  Church 
against  the  evils  of  intemperance.  The  body  of  the  members 
were  in  favor  of  adherence  to  the  law.  The  General  Conference 
was  handsomely  entertained  at  Louisville.  The  body  met  in  a 
fine  hall  in  the  center  of  the  city,  and  the  people  were  liberal  in 
their  support  of  the  delegates  and  visitors.  My  home  was  with 
Brother  W.  II.  Frazer  and  family,  and  my  room-mate  was  the 
Rev.  William  Burr,  of  the  Tennessee  Conference.  We  were 
finely  entertained.  Among  the  Tennessee  delegation  we  had  sev- 
eral brethren  who  soon  passed  away.  The  Rev.  F.  E.  Pitts  died 
during  the  Conference.  He  expired  at  the  house  of  his  relative, 
Mr.  Hobbs,  at  Anchorage,  about  twrelve  miles  from  the  city.  I 
closed  his  eyes.  He  fell  asleep  in  Jesus  with  the  words  "  eternal 
life  "  upon  his  lips.  His  remains  were  brought  to  the  city,  and 
the  General  Conference  in  a  body  attended  his  funeral  service  at 
Walnut  Street  Church.  His  remains  were  then  sent  to  Nashville, 
where  they  were  received  by  a  great  crowd,  and,  after  suitable 
ceremonies,  he  was  laid  away  in  Mount  Olivet  Cemetery. 

Fountain  E.  Pitts  was  no  ordinary  man.  He  was  a  gifted 
preacher — a  man  of  rare  pulpit  ability,  and  one  of  the  finest  camp- 
meeting  preachers  we  ever  had  in  the  West.  He  had  some  pe- 
culiarities that  in  a  measure  curtailed  his  usefulness;  but,  all  in 
all,  few  men  in  his  day  won  more  souls  to  Christ.     I  loved  him 

(295) 


296  JOHN  B.  McFERRIX. 

much,  and  mourn  his  death  to  this  day.  He  -was  an  ardent  friend, 
and  one  who  clung  tome  even  in  death.  He  asked  me  to  be  with 
him  to  the  last,  and  I  saw  him  as  he  gently  fell  asleep,  and  com- 
mitted his  spirit  to  God. 

At  this  Conference  we  were  honored  with  fraternal  messengers 
from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  persons  of  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Hunt  and  Fowler  and  Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fisk.  Their  ad- 
dresses before  the  General  Conference  were  able  and  in  a  Chris- 
tian spirit,  and  were  warmly  received.  Suitable  responses  were 
made,  and  the  whole  proceeding  was  marked  by  the  spirit  of 
sound  Christian  feeling  and  proper  courtesy.  Many  hearts  were 
warmed  at  the  prospect  of  the  restoration  of  brotherly  love  be- 
tween the  two  great  Methodist  bodies  in  the  United  States.  From 
that  day  the  fraternal  feeling  has  been  increasing,  with  now  and 
then  some  friction.  It  will  finally  prevail  and  pervade  the  whole 
Church,  as  I  humbly  hope.  # 

Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Green  was  a  member  of  this  General  Conference, 
as  he  had  been  a  member  of  every  one,  except  in  1S40,  from  the 
year  1832.  His  health  was  very  feeble,  and  he  left  Louisville  be- 
fore the  General  Conference  closed,  and  went  home  to  linger  a  few 
weeks,  and  then  he  died.  He  passed  away  July  15,  1874.  He  had 
been  nearly  fiftv  years  in  the  ministry.  He  was  one  year  my  sen- 
ior in  age  and  in  the  ministry.  We  had  been  intimate  for  half  a 
century.  He  was  an  able  man  and  a  successful  preacher.  He 
and  I  were  about  the  same  size  and  in  the  strength  of  manhood; 
more  together  than  any  two  preachers  of  the  Tennessee  Confer- 
ence; and  yet  we  were  differently  constituted  in  mind  and  temper- 
ament. Dr.  Green  was  calm,  self-possessed,  thoughtful,  and  pru- 
dent, wise  in  council,  and  had  great  power  with  men.  His  great 
forte  was  preaching  and  in  the  social  circle.  He  liked  to  preach, 
and  did  a  great  deal  of  it.  Few  men  in  this  country  preached 
oftener  in  fifty  years  than  did  A.  L.  P.  Green,  and  his  ministra- 
tions were  effective.  He  brought  thousands  into  the  Church. 
His  last  days  were  quiet  and  peaceful,  and  he  died  lamented  by 
thousands.  I  was  from  home  when  he  passed  away,  and  regret- 
ted that  I  was  not  at  his  funeral.  He  had  some  views  that  were 
contrary  to  my  own.  He  was  not  a  strict  constructionist,  but 
more  latitudinarian  than  myself.  Perhaps  he  was  right,  and  I  in 
error;  yet  our  friendship  and  mutual  love  endured.  We  worked 
together  nearly  fifty  years  in  the  same  Conference.     When   he 


MEASURES  AND  MEN. 


297 


was  called  away  I  missed  him  much,  and  miss  him  till  this  day. 
Rev.  Thomas  Maddin,  D.D.,  also  died  about  the  same  time  of  the 
departure  of  Pitts  and  Green.  Thus  in  a  few  weeks  three  great 
and  good  men  passed  away.     They  all  sleep  at  Mount  Olivet. 

At  this  General  Conference  I  was  re-elected  Missionary  Secre- 
tary, and  continued  as  heretofore  in  the  active  work  of  the  office. 
I  was  very  desirous  to  have  an  assistant,  and  after  several  trials 
the  General  Conference  allowed  the  Board  to  select  one.  Dr. 
Havgood  was  chosen.  He  was  also  Secretary  of  the  Sunday- 
school  department,  and  performed  this  additional  work  without 
cost  to  the  Board.  He  continued  for  some  three  years,  when  he 
resigned  his  position,  and  Dr.  D.  C.  Kelley  came  to  my  help  in 
his  s&tead.  They  both  did  much  valuable  service,  and  relieved  me 
of  a  part  of  the  burden  that  was  upon  me. 

In  July  of  this  year  I  visited  Round  Lake  Camp-meeting,  in 
the  State  of  New  York.  It  was  a  meeting  in  the  interest  of  fra- 
ternity. Many  branches  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  were  rep- 
resented. We  had  brethren  from  Europe  and  Australia,  from 
Canada  and  various  parts  of  the  United  States.  Bishops  Kava- 
naugh  and  Doggett  were  present  from  our  Church,  with  many 
others  of  our  ministers.  It  was  a  meeting  of  great  interest,  and 
much  was  done  here  to  set  on  foot  true  fraternal  feelings  between 
many  of  the  Methodist  families.  It  was  a  season  of  special  grac* 
to  many,  and  was  a  blessing  to  me.  My  spiritual  strength  was 
renewed.  The  meeting  was  under  the  supervision  of  Bishop  E.  Sr 
Janes,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  had  a  committee 
to  co-operate  with  him.  Bishop  Janes  was  a  good  and  great  man, 
full  of  faith  and  Christian  love.  He  was  always  friendly  to  the 
South.  By  the  votes  of  the  Southern  delegates,  in  1844,  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  Bishop. 

From  Round  Lake  I  went  to  New  York  City,  where  I  preached 
twice  on  the  Sabbath.  Thence  to  Boston  and  back  home,  via 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington  City,  Lynchburg,  and  Chat- 
tanooga. I  had  the  company  of  two  of  my  daughters,  my  wife's 
niece,"  and  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Plummer  and  daughter.  Altogether  the 
trip  was  very  pleasant,  and,  I  trust,  not  unprofitable.  On  my  re- 
turn I  spent  one  day  at  the  District  Conference  of  our  Church  at 
Bristol,  Tennessee. 

The  Board  of  Missions  recommended  that  I  should  visit  Cob 
orado,  Oregon,  and  California,  in  company  with   Bishop  Pierce. 


298  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Accordingly,  in  the  latter  part  of  August,  we  set  out.  Our  first 
point  of  destination  was  Denver,  Colorado.  Here  the  Bishop  held 
an  Annual  Conference  August  27-29.  The  journey  across  the 
plains  was  deeply  interesting  to  me.  Passing  Kansas  City,  Mis- 
souri, we  swept  along  for  hundreds  of  miles  through  the  great 
desert,  where  nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  dreary  sand  wastes,  with- 
out scarcely  any  sign  of  life,  either  vegetable  or  animal.  Denver 
is  a  beautiful  city  located  in  full  view  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
Our  Church,  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  was  small  and  feeble,  but 
had  the  promise  of  improvement.  It  has  since  made  progress. 
Leaving  Denver,  we  crossed  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  reached 
Wheatland,  California,  in  time  to  spend  a  few  days  at  the  camp- 
meeting  near  that  town.  Here  I  met  my  cousin,  the  Rev.  B.  H. 
Berry,  a  local  preacher  in  our  Church.  He  was  a  native  of  Ten- 
nessee, but  had  removed  to  Arkansas,  and  thence  to  California, 
and  we  had  not  met  since  we  were  young  men.  Our  meeting 
was  joyful.  He  had  a  family  of  eighteen  living  children,  most  of 
them  grown  and  doing  well.  His  eldest  son,  Campbell  P.,  I  found 
to  be  a  prominent  citizen,  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and  a 
member  of  our  Church.  He  afterward  was  a  delegate  to  our 
General  Conference  at  Atlanta,  and  is  now,  at  the  time  of  this 
writing,  a  member  of  the  United  States  Congress. 

Our  journey  across  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  very  interesting 
to  me.  The  vast  plains  surprised  me.  To  see  hundreds  of  miles 
of  comparatively  smooth  and  level  lands  was  more  than  I  ex- 
pected. But  ever  and  anon  we  passed  rugged  elevations  and  wild 
scenery  that  looked  like  the  lurking-places  of  wild  and  ferocious 
beasts.  It  is  really  marvelous  how  the  emigrants  passed  these 
barren  wastes  with  their  teams  of  oxen  and  wagons  in  their  jour- 
neyings  to  the  land  of  gold.  Many  perished  by  the  way,  and 
thousands  spent  "all  their  living"  and  returned  bankrupt,  while  a 
few  remained  to  grow  rich  and  many  to  live  in  poverty  and  die  in 
a  strange  land.  The  unwritten  history  of  the  "  California  fever  " 
would  fill  volumes  if  it  could  only  be  collected  and  published  to 
the  world.  The  written  history  will  be  read  with  much  interest  in 
time  to  come. 

At  the  camp-meeting  at  Whoatland  I  preached  and  labored 
with  the  penitents  until  Monday  or  Tuesday,  and  baptized  two  by 
immersion  who  were  converted  at  the  meeting.  It  is  a  fact  worth 
recording  that  on  Saturday,  while  Bishop  Pierce  was  preaching,  a 


MEASURES  AND  MEN.  299 

lady  was  converted,  and  on  Sunday,  during  my  sermon,  a  young 
man  was  brought  to  Christ  and  experienced  the  forgiveness  of 
sins.  The  meeting  over,  we  left  the  neighborhood  of  Wheatland, 
and  set  out  on  our  journey  to  Oregon.  We  went  by  railroad  to 
Redding,  where  we  took  the  stage  for  Roseburg.  WTe  passed  the 
towns  of  Maryville,  Yuba  City,  Chico,  California,  and  various  vil- 
lages in  the  northern  part  of  the  State,  and  in  Oregon.  Jackson- 
ville and  Ashland  we  found  to  be  pleasant  towns  situated  in  the 
valley  of  Rogue  River.  Here  in  this  valley  we  passed  as  beauti- 
ful farming  lands  as  can  be  found  in  almost  any  country  in  the 
far  and  fertile  West.  The  trouble  is  want  of  a  market.  When 
railroads  shall  penetrate  that  country  it  will  be  sought  for  as  a  de- 
lightful region.  Altogether,  the  travel  in  the  stage-coach  from 
California  to  Oregon  taxed  me  more  heavily  than  any  journey 
that  I  remember  in  my  long  experience  of  travel.  Two  whole 
days  and  nearly  three  whole  nights,  going  sometimes  at  a  speed  of 
ten  miles  an  hour — up  the  mountains,  down  the  mountains,  cooped 
up  in  a  stage,  crowded  for  room,  and  not  an  hour  of  rest — well- 
nigh  exhausted  me.  When  we  reached  Roseburg,  the  third  morn- 
ing, and  seated  ourselves  on  the  cars,  I  really  thought  I  never  en- 
joyed so  great  a  luxury  as  a  railroad.  From  Roseburg  we  jour- 
neyed by  rail  to  Salem,  the  capital  of  the  State.  Here  we  found 
a  beautiful  and  thriving  little  city.  We  dined,  and  then  proceeded 
some  twelve  miles  to  the  place  of  holding  the  Columbia  Confer- 
ence. It  was  a  camp-ground  called  "  Dixie."  The  Conference 
had  appointed  to  hold  its  session  in  Salem,  but  from  some  cause 
not  justifiable,  I  judged,  it  had  been  changed,  and  Dixie  was  the 
place  of  meeting.  We  had  a  very  good  time,  all  things  consid- 
ered, and  I  trust  good  was  done.  The  business  of  the  Conference 
was  not  pleasant  in  some  of  its  aspects.  The  preacher  appointed 
the  previous  year  to  Salem  had  been  guilty  of  certain  indiscre- 
tions; was  tried,  and  suspended.  His  unfortunate  course  pros- 
trated our  cause  in  Salem,  where  we  had  erected  a  small,  neat 
church,  and  gathered  a  promising  little  congregation.  I  fear  we 
will  never  regain  what  was  lost  by  indiscretion. 

One  of  the  troubles  we  have  always  encountered  in  planting 
the  Church  on  the  frontier  is  the  want  of  the  right  sort  of  men_ 
Unfortunate  appointments  have  been  made,  and  time  and  mean? 
and  opportunities  have  been  lost;  but  in  despite  of  all  these  we 
have  made,  and  are  making,  some  advance. 


300  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

The  Willamette  Valley  is  a  beautiful  and  fertile  country  lying 
on  both  sides  of  the  Willamette  River.  The  stream  rises  in  the 
mountains,  and  runs  northward,  emptying  its  waters  in  the  Colum- 
bia River,  with  an  open  gate  into  the  broad  Pacific.  Portland  is 
a  growing  city  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  this  river.  We  visit- 
ed Portland,  and  by  invitation  took  passage  on  a  pleasant  little 
steamer  down  to  the  Columbia,  and  up  that  beautiful  stream  to 
the  falls  known  as  Spokane.  On  our  return  to  Portland  the 
Bishop  preached  at  night  to  a  large  congregation  in  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church.  We  then  visited  Corvallis,  Albany,  Eugene 
City,  and  other  places,  and  preached  to  appreciative  congrega- 
tions. We  had  fine  views  of  Mount  Hood  and  other  places  of 
interest.  At  Salem  we  lodged  in  the  house  once  occupied  by  Ja- 
son Lee,  a  missionary  to  the  Flathead  Indians.  At  Roseburg,  on 
our  return,  we  spent  two  days  and  nights  preaching  and  visiting. 
Here  we  had  a  church,  congregation,  parsonage,  and  a  growing 
prospect  for  good.  We  enjoyed  here  the  hospitality  of  Dr.  Ham- 
ilton and  his  family.  Then,  by  dividing  our  time,  we  made  our 
way  back  to  California,  preaching  at  Canyon  and  Ashland  by  the 
way.  Thus,  by  stopping  on  the  return  trip,  Ave  made  the  journey 
without  much  fatigue,  and  were  ready  to  begin  work  as  soon  as 
we  reached  California. 

The  mountain  region  between  California  and  Oregon  is  wild, 
grand,  wonderful.  The  most  interesting  point  is  Mount  Shasta, 
that  lifts  its  head  fourteen  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Its  top  is  covered  with  perpetual  snow.  We  passed  it  early  in  the 
day.  The  sun  was  out,  shedding  his  golden  beams  on  the  highest 
peaks.  The  clouds  that  shrouded  its  brow  were  gilded  by  the  glo- 
rious morning  light,  and  the  whole  mountain  seemed  to  be 
wrapped  in  splendor.  I  could  not  hold  my  peace,  but  shouted 
aloud,  "Grand!  glorious!" 

We  visited  various  places,  and  preached  sundry  times  at  Lin- 
den Camp-meeting,  Los  Xietos,  Carpenteria,  Los  Angeles,  and 
attended  two  Annual  Conferences — the  Pacific,  at  Stockton,  and 
the  Los  Angeles,  at  Carpenteria.  All  in  all,  our  visit  was  delight- 
ful, and  I  trust  fruit  followed.  The  Bishop  toiled  day  and  night, 
and  ceased  not  in  his  labors  till  he  had  completed  his  round.  Won- 
derful man!  His  zeal  and  labors  know  no  bounds  within  the  ex- 
tent of  his  ability.  He  counts  not  his  life  dear  to  himself  so  that 
he  may  finish  his  work.     He  has  brought  on  himself  premature 


MEASURES  AND  MEN.  301 

old  age  and  physical  weakness  by  his  excessive  labors  in  the  pul- 
pit and  by  long  and  wearisome  journeyings.  I  wish  here  to  re- 
cord that,  after  forty  years'  intimate  friendship  with  Bishop  Pierce, 
I  regard  him  as  combining  as  many  elements  of  a  great  gospel 
preacher  as  any  man  I  ever  knew.  I  think  I  never  knew  his  su- 
perior, if  his  equal.  Besides,  he  is  a  man  of  large  common  sense, 
sound  judgment,  marked  discretion,  and  one  of  the  most  unself- 
ish men  I  ever  met.  He  is  full  of  charity,  and  has  a  heart  that 
sympathizes  with  the  suffering  and  sorrowful.  Having  finished 
our  work,  we  left  San  Francisco,  and  reached  Nashville  on  the 
evening  of  the  sixth  day.  We  made  the  whole  trip  without  taking 
a  sleeper,  and  reached  home  without  much  fatigue. 

Our  Church  on  the  Pacific  Coast  has  had  many  hard  struggles, 
but  still  it  lives,  and  will  live,  if  the  great  body  of  the  Church  will 
sustain  our  brethren  in  that  interesting  field.  I  am  fully  satisfied 
in  my  own  mind  that  a  sufficient  effort  has  not  been  made  in  that 
direction.  While  I  am  in  accord  with  all  live  Christians  in  the 
effort  to  convert  the  heathen,  I  think  more  ought  to  be  done  for 
our  home  frontier  work.  Our  missionary  work  has  not  always 
been  wisely  managed.  We  have  had  failures  in  men  and  failures 
in  the  management  of  finances;  but  still  much  good  has  been  ac- 
complished, and  our  brethren  need  more  help.  The  outposts 
should  be  well  fortified. 

On  my  return  from  California  in  November,  1874,  I  found  my 
family  all  living  and  in  common  health.  A  few  days'  rest,  and  I 
was  off  again  to  the  Conferences,  and  for  four  years  more  (from 
May,  1874)  I  devoted  all  my  energies  to  our  missionary  interest. 
First  and  last  I  visited  every  Conference  in  the  Connection,  ex- 
cept Montana.  I  made  speeches,  addressed  Sunday-schools, 
spoke  to  the  Conferences,  attended  anniversaries,  preached  ser- 
mons, and  was  busy  all  the  time.  We  had  a  degree  of  success- 
kept  the  Board  out  of  debt  and  established  new  Missions.  Dun 
ing  my  term  of  service  we  greatly  enlarged  our  field  in  China,  es 
tablished  our  Missions  in  the  City  of  Mexico,  on  the  border  be- 
tween Texas  and  Mexico,  in  Brazil,  and  kept  up  the  work  among 
the  Indians,  the  Germans,  and  among  the  whites  on  our  borders. 
When  the  General  Conference  met  at  Atlanta,  May  1,  1878,  I 
had  all  my  reports  ready,  and  recommended  the  organization  of  a 
Woman's  Missionary  Society.  Here  ended  my  work  as  Mission- 
ary Secretary.     Twelve  years  of  toil   and  trave1    and  I  hope  not 


302  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


fruitless  effort.  We  began  in  1866  in  debt  to  the  amount  of  some 
$So,ooo,  wrecked  and  ruined  by  the  war,  with  a  membership  of 
about  400,000  whites.  We  kept  up  the  organization,  paid  all  our 
old  debts,  and  lived  to  see  the  new  Board  on  sound  and  safe  foot- 
ing. No  "one,  perhaps,  as  well  as  myself  knew  the  difficulties  I 
had  to  overcome.  Our  people  were  just  out  of  a  disastrous  war, 
their  property  gone,  their  spirits  in  a  great  measure  broken ;  their 
minds  and  hearts  full,  and  intensely  moved  againgt  the  world  at 
large  because  they  considered  the  world  was  against  them  on  ac- 
count of  their  connection  with  slavery — a  connection  which  they 
themselves  did  not  make.  Never  before  did  I  feel  so  forcibly 
the  power  of  these  words,  "Charity  begins  at  home;"  "The 
Greeks  are  at  your  doors."  But  we  fought  it  through,  and  lived 
to  witness  a  brighter  day  for  ourselves  and  the  heathen  worid 
abnmd. 


RUNNING  NOTES. 


THE  General  Conference  convened  at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  May  i. 
1878.  As  usual,  my  brethren  elected  me  a  delegate.  My 
colleagues  and  I  were  present  in  time.  The  Conference  was  full, 
and  much  interest  was  felt  in  the  proceedings.  We  were  to  have 
delegates  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  from  Canada, 
from  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  and  from  four  of  the  Col- 
ored Methodist  Churches.  Besides,  we  were  to  have  a  great  and 
absorbing  question  to  solve.  The  Publishing  House  at  Nash- 
ville had  become  seriously  involved,  and  it  was  questionable 
whether  it  could  be  safely  continued  or  whether  it  should  be 
wound  tip  and  the  publishing  enterprise  abandoned  altogether  by 
the  Church.  I  was  placed  on  that  committee  and  elected  chair- 
man. I  tried  to  be  relieved  from  serving  on  the  committee  alto- 
gether, but  my  brethren  insisted,  and  would  not  allow  me  to  de- 
cline. The  committee  was  well  selected.  Several  business  men, 
lavmen  of  eminent  qualifications,  were  chosen,  and  some  of  the 
best  financial  minds  among  the  preachers.  The  work  of  the  com- 
mittee was  onerous,  complicated,  and  very  delicate.  The  reports 
of  the  Agent  were  accompanied  by  a  history  of  the  financial 
management  of  the  House  for  many  years  and  the  report  of  an 
expert,  who  had  been  employed  some  time  previously  to  examine 
into  the  condition  of  the  business.  These  papers  were  all  referred 
to  the  committee.  It  consisted  of  about  seventy  members.  To 
preside  over  such  a  body,  meeting  generally  in  the  afternoon,  and, 
having  a  tangled  and  mysterious  subject  to  handle,  was  no  light 
task.  Besides,  the  Agent  was  often  present,  trying  to  explain  the 
condition  of  the  business.  After  patient  and  impartial  investiga- 
tion our  reports  were  made,  and  adopted  by  the  General  Confer- 
ence, as  seen  in  the  Journal  for  1S78,  and  in  the  Discipline  of  the 
same  year.  In  the  discussions  in  the  committee  and  before  the 
General   Conference  there  was  much  earnestness,  and  at  time9 

(303) 


304  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

some  warmth.  [Here  are  omitted  some  pages  in  reference  to  a  mat- 
ter adjudicated  by  the  Church]. 

Before  the  election  for  Book  Agent  came  on  I  was  earnestly 
besought  by  many  brethren  to  allow  my  name  to  be  presented  as 
a  candidate  for  the  office.  I  refused;  they  insisted.  Finally,  at 
the  urgent  request  of  Bishop  Pierce  and  others,  I  said  if  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  would  authorize  the  Book  Agent  and  the  Book 
Committee  to  employ  a  Business  Manager  who  should  be  required 
to  work  under  the  supervision  of  the  Agent  and  Committee,  and 
who  should  devote  all  his  time  to  the  interest  of  the  House,  and  if 
it  is  the  wish  of  the  Bishops,  and  something  like  the  unanimous 
desire  of  the  General  Conference,  I  might  perhaps  be  induced  to 
accept  the  appointment;  but  I  would  do  it  with  great  reluctance. 

The  election  came  off.  No  nomination  was  made.  Many  of 
mv  friends  understood  that  I  could  not  consent  to  accept  the  po- 
sition, and  many  names  had  been  mentioned.  On  the  first  ballot 
two  hundred  and  twenty-six  votes  were  cast  for  twenty-nine  differ- 
ent persons.  I  received  eighty-two.  On  the  second  ballot,  out 
of  two  hundred  and  fourteen  votes,  I  received  one  hundred  and 
forty,  and  by  the  persuasion  of  friends  I  agreed  to  serve;  but  I 
felt  that  I  had  consented  to  bear  a  heavy  burden,  if  indeed  it  could 
be  carried  at  all.  Some  said  I  would  succeed;  others  said,  "No, 
never"  Some  said  I  was  very  unwise  to  undertake  so  hopeless  a 
task;  others  encouraged  me,  and  thought  I  would  save  the  sink- 
ing concern.     And  here  I  was,  between  hope  and  fear. 

The  General  Conference  was  an  occasion  of  much  interest  in 
many  respects.  Fraternal  delegates  from  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  the  Methodist 
Church  in  Canada,  and  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
were  present.  Dr.  Foss  and  Dr.  Douglass  both  made  fine  ad- 
dresses, two  colored  men  made  excellent  speeches,  and  Dr.  Clark, 
of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  also  delivered  a  noble  address. 
All  the  fraternal  messengers  did  well,  and  the  impression  on  the 
public  mind  was  excellent. 

I  was  domiciled  at  the  Kimball  House,  where  I  had  excellent 
fare  and  good  associations.  Bishop  Pierce,  his  father,  and  several 
others  of  my  friends  were  at  the  same  House,  which  made  it  very 
pleasant  Avhen  done  with  the  labors  and  toils  of  the  day.  The 
work,  however,  was  very  heavy,  especially  of  presiding  in  the 
committee.     All  things,  however,  were  sifted,  and  finally  reports 


RUNNING  NOTES.  305 

of  the  committee  were  adopted,  as  they  appear  in  the  Journal  of 
the  General  Conference  for  187S. 

For  further  proceedings  of  that  body  I  refer  to  the  Journal  and 
to  the  Daily  Christian  Advocate,  published  during  the  session. 
The  Conference  over,  I  returned  home,  and  found  my  sick  "wife 
much  improved  and  the  family  in  usual  health. 

No  time  was  to  be  lost.  The  first  day  of  June  I  was  to  take 
charge  of  the  Publishing  House.  The  Book  Committee  had  a 
meeting,  and  organized  by  electing  Judge  James  Whitworth  Pres- 
ident, and  Dr.  W.  H.  Morgan  Secretary.  We  proceeded  at  once 
to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  affairs,  and  found  them  bad  enough. 
We  halted,  inquired,  turned  matters  over,  looked  at  every  side,  and 
finally,  after  a  trial  of  the  capacity  of  the  House,  adopted  the  plan 
of  relief  known  as  the  "  Bond  Scheme."  For  all  these  move- 
ments I  refer  to  the  reports  of  the  Agent  and  Book  Committee, 
and  to  our  record  book,  where  all  our  proceedings  are  carefully 
kept. 

During  nearly  two  full  years  my  time  was  devoted  to  raising 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars.  I  visited  many  of  the  Annual 
and  District  Conferences  and  several  prominent  cities  in  the 
South,  and  had  the  efficient  aid  of  the  Rev.  R.  A.  Young,  who 
was  a  successful  canvasser.  In  all  my  toils  I  neglected  not  my 
ministerial  calling,  but  preached  many  times,  and  occasionally  had 
the  blessing  of  God  upon  my  labors.  Separation  from  my  family 
and  absence  from  home  were  heavy  trials,  but  still  all  was  endured 
for  the  sake  of  the  cause  committed  to  my  care. 

In  November,  1S80,  I  met  one  of  the  greatest  afflictions  of  my 
life.  I  was  in  Texas,  working  for  the  Publishing  House.  When 
I  reached  Dallas,  in  company  with  Bishop  Pierce,  on  the  night  of 
the  1 6th  I  received  a  telegraphic  dispatch  that  my  son  James  had 
that  day  been  killed  by  a  railroad  accident  at  Birmingham,  Ala- 
bama. The  shock  was  more  than  I  could  well  bear,  and  had  not 
God's  grace  sustained  me  I  should  have  sunk  under  it;  but  he 
helped  me,  blessed  be  his  name!  The  next  morning,  in  a  heavy 
snow-storm,  I  turned  my  face  toward  home,  and  made  the  long 
journev  with  a  heavy  heart  and  cast-down  spirits.  The  body  of 
my  son  had  been  brought  home  and  had  been  kept  unburied  till 
my  arrival.  Then  the  last  sad  rites  were  performed,  and  he  was 
laid  away  to  rest  till  the  morning  of  the  resurrection.  He  was  a 
noble  man.  No  father,  perhaps,  ever  loved  a  son  more  than  J 
20 


30G  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


loved  him;  and  while  I  try  to  he  fully  resigned  to  God's  will,  I 
still  mourn  my  loss — a  loss  this  world  will  never  repair.  His  good 
wife  had  been  dead  more  than  five  years,  and  his  only  child  (An- 
nie) was,  with  him,  an  inmate  of  my  family.  She  still  lives  in  my 
house  at  the  time  of  this  writing,  and  will  have  a  home  there  as 
long  as  I  live  and  she  may  desire  to  remain.  My  son  was  a  Chris- 
tian, and  had  been  from  early  life.  He  professed  saving  faitti 
when  he  was  about  ten  years  of  age. 

In  the  year  18S1  I  visited  Europe.  I  went  by  the  appointment 
of  the  Bishops  as  a  delegate  to  the  Ecumenical  Conference,  which 
was  held  in  London,  England,  commencing  September  7,  1SS1. 
My  whole  journey  was  one  of  interest.  At  New  York  a  frater- 
nal meeting  was  held  in  Old  John  Street  Church,  the  cradle  of 
American  Methodism.  This  meeting  was  convened  on  the  even- 
ing of  August  5,  and  was  attended  by  delegates  on  the  way  1o 
London  and  a  large  number  of  the  citizens  of  New  York.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Buckley  presided.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Crawford,  of  New- 
York,  delivered  an  address  of  welcome,  to  which,  by  request,  I 
responded.  Others  followed.  The  occasion  was  one  of  interest, 
and  excited  much  talk  among  the  Methodists  in  all  parts  of  the 
land.  It  was  regarded  as  an  omen  of  good,  an  indication  of  what 
was  to  follow  at  the  meeting  in  London.  On  the  6th  of  August 
we  sailed  from  New  York  on  board  the  fine  steam-ship  "City  of 
Berlin."  We  had  over  two  hundred  cabin  passengers,  many  of 
them  delegates  to  the  Conference.  My  daughter  Lou.  was  with 
me.  My  room-mates  were  the  Rev.  David  Morton,  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  and  the  Rev.  L.  S.  Burkhead,  of  North  Carolina. 
The  company  was  very  agreeable,  and  the  voyage  delightful.  We 
had  good  weather  and  a  smooth  sea  most  of  the  way.  I  escaped 
sea-sickness  almost  entirely.  We  had  preaching  and  speaking  on 
board  the  ship,  and  our  time  was  delightfully  employed.  We 
landed  at  Queenstown,  Ireland,  on  Sunday  night,  the  14th,  about 
10  o'clock.  Here  we  took  boat  for  Cork,  about  twelve  miles 
from  the  harbor,  situated  on  the  River  Lee.  We  arrived  at  Cork 
about  12  o'clock  at  night,  and  found  comfortable  lodgings  at  a 
hotel. 

Monday  Ave  spent  in  sight-seeing;  visited  Blarney  Castle,  six 
miles  distant,  and  had  a  fine  view  of  the  adjacent  country.  Tues- 
day we  set  out  on  our  tour  through  Ireland.  We  visited  Bandon, 
Giengariff,  Kenmare,  Dunluce  Castle,  the  Lakes  of  Killarney,  Dub- 


RUNNING  NOTES.  307 

lin,  the  Giant's  Causeway,  Portrush,  Londonderry,  Belfast,  and 
intermediate  points.  Here,  in  Ireland,  we  witnessed  the  extremes 
of  wealth  and  poverty,  intelligence  and  ignorance.  Dublin  is  a 
grand  old  city,  and  Belfast  is  a  most  prosperous  place.  Thecoun 
try  is  beautiful,  and  the  climate  is  fine.  Altogether,  I  regard  Ire- 
land as  one  of  the  loveliest  lands  I  ever  visited.  I  preached  in 
Dublin,  and  made  the  acquaintance  of  several  interesting  mem- 
bers of  the  Wesleyan  Connection. 

At  Portrush,  not  far  from  the  Giant's  Causeway,  stands  a  mon- 
ument to  the  memory  of  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  the  great  Methodist 
commentator,  who  was  born  only  a  few  miles  from  the  place.  I 
preached  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  and  took  some  time  in  viewing 
this  grand  old  city.  John  Knox  and  Walter  Scott  seem  to  be 
more  sacredly  held  in  memory  by  the  great  body  of  the  people 
than  any  other  two  names,  though  hundreds  of  their  former  great 
men  and  distinguished  women  are  held  in  fond  recollection.  The 
history  of  Scotland  is  more  thrilling  than  any  romance.  The  his- 
tory of  Scotland  and  Ireland  fills  as  many  pages  in  modern  his- 
tory as  any  other  portion  of  the  globe  of  the  same  extent  of  ter- 
ritory and  number  of  population. 

I  passed  near  the  home  of  ray  ancestors,  and  found  that  many 
of  the  name  still  remain  in  the  Old  Country,  though  they  gener- 
ally spell  the  name  McFerran.  We  visited  Paris,  the  most  beau- 
tiful city  in  the  world,  I  suppose,  where  we  spent  several  days.  I 
preached  in  the  cily,  and  visited  many  of  the  places  of  notoriety. 
For  notes  on  this  tour  I  must  refer  to  the  Christian  Advocate, 
which  contains  several  of  my  letters  descriptive  of  our  journey- 
ings. 

The  Ecumenical  Conference  opened  on  the  7th  of  September, 
in  City  Road  Chapel.  For  a  detailed  account  of  this  great  meet- 
ing I  must  refer  to  the  volume  containing  its  history.  I  was  one 
of  the  editors  bringing  out  the  book.  To  me  the  meeting  was  a 
grand  occasion,  an  epoch  in  my  history.  I  preached  several  times 
in  London;  visited  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  where  I  preached  and 
made  a  number  of  speeches  at  a  supplementary  Ecumenical  Con- 
ference. I  returned  to  London,  where  I  preached  again,  and  de- 
livered a  lecture  on  American  Methodism,  especially  in  the  South. 
London  is  a  great  city,  and  England  is  a  great  country.  Europe 
is  a  grand  portion  of  the  civilized  world;  but  to  a  native  of  the 
New  World  there  is  no  land  like  North  America.     Its  extent  of 


308 


JOHN  B.  McFERRTN. 


territory,  variety  of  soil,  climate,  and  productions,  its  free  institu- 
tions and  growing  prospects,  are  all  attractive. 

With  this  patriotic  outburst  these  autobiographical 
notes  come  to  an  end.  As  we  look  at  McFerrin  in  the 
chapters  that  follow,  from  different  angles  and  through 
our  own  glasses,  the  picture  of  him,  we  trust,  will  be 
founded  into  unity. 


TWO  ORATORS  ON  THEIR  METTLE. 


McFERRIN  was  a  visitor  to  the  Georgia  Confer- 
ence in  the  autumn  of  1854.  He  was  then  at  the 
zenith  of  his  power  as  a  preacher  and  platform  orator. 
There  was  great  curiosity  among  the  young  preachers 
to  see  and  hear  him.  He  created  &  furor  of  enthusiasm. 
The  crowd  followed  him  from  place  to  place  when  he 
spoke.  He  was  to  them  a  wonder  and  a  delight.  He 
had  a  characteristic  tilt  with  Dr.  E.  H.  Myers.  The 
subject  was  the  relation  of  the  Nashville  Christian  Ad- 
vocate to  the  local,  or  Conference,  organs,  and  the  spe- 
cial point  at  issue  was  the  price  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence paper.  The  debate  waxed  warm.  Myers  had 
plenty  of  facts  and  arguments,  and  knew  how  to  use 
them.  He  presented  his  side  of  the  question  clearly 
and  strongly,  and  seemed  to  have  made  out  his  case. 
McFerrin  rose  to  reply,  and  began  his  speech  by  a  sly 
witticism  that  made  a  ripple  of  merriment  all  over  the 
house,  in  which  even  the  grave  and  saintly  Bishop  Ca- 
pers— who  sat  in  the  president's  chair,  with  his  silken, 
white  hair,  and  great,  luminous  eyes — could  not  refrain 
from  joining.  Then  the  Tennessee  editor  grappled 
with  the  question  in  his  own  way,  seizing  an  expression 
dropped  by  his  adversary  and  giving  it  such  a  ludicrous 
twist  that  everybody  had  to  laugh;  then  stating  some 
facts  with  rapid  enunciation  and  telling  emphasis,  and 
then  swooping  down  upon  Myers  with  a  reductio  ad 
absurdztm  so  triumphant  in  manner  that  it  provoked  the 
Georgian  into  an  interruption.     Alas   for   him  or  any 

(309) 


310  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

other  man  who  did  that!  Quick  as  lightning  McFerrin 
hurled  back  a  shaft  of  his  sarcastic  wit  that  electrified 
the  assembly,  and  then  he  followed  it  up  with  a  sort  of 
elocutionary  bayonet-charge  that  carried  the  enemy's 
works  in  complete  triumph.  In  vain  did  Myers  try  to 
explain  and  expostulate,  and  call  him  back  to  the  facts 
and  to  the  argument.  McFerrin  poured  in  upon  him 
the  full  torrent  of  his  ridicule,  his  nasal  buglings  rising 
higher  and  higher  until  the  whole  Conference  was  in  an 
uproar  of  merriment.  "  He  has  tomahawked  Myers, 
scalped  him,  and  is  dancing  a  war-dance  over  his  re- 
mains!" exclaimed  a  preacher,  red  in  the  face  from  ex- 
cessive laughter.  That  was  the  verdict  of  the  Confer- 
ence at  the  time,  but  on  a  sober  review  of  the  case  the 
larger  part  of  the  brethren  believed  that  the  facts  and 
the  weight  of  argument  were  on  Myers's  side.  But 
what  chance  had  facts  or  lo<j:ic  agrainst  this  Tennessean 
of  irresistible  wit  and  sublime  audacity?  Myers  was 
chafed,  not  to  say  disgusted,  at  the  result  of  the  encoun- 
ter; but  he  was  too  noble  and  too  truly  Christian  to 
harbor  malice,  and  in  after  days  no  two  men  in  all  the 
Church  felt  for  each  other  a  truer  respect  and  good-will 
than  the  rival  editors  who  fought  that  forensic  duel  at 
Atlanta  in  1854.  Myers  was  solid  gold,  whose  fineness 
was  only  revealed  by  the  fires.  The  hauteur  on  his  face 
repelled  strangers,  but  the  great,  true,  loving  heart  won 
and  held  forever  every  one  who  once  got  close  enough 
to  him  to  feel  its  brotherly  throbbings.  He  had  rather 
the  gift  of  usefulness  than  popularity,  until  his  martyr 
death  from  yellow  fever  in  Savannah  in  1S74  so  re- 
vealed his  lofty  character  that  in  him  was  furnished  an- 
other illustration  of  the  aphorism  that  "the  world  first 
crucifies  and  then  canonizes  saints." 


TWO  ORATORS  ON  THEIR  METTLE.  311 

This  encounter  whetted  the  appetites  of  the  Georgians 
for  more  of  McFerrin,  and  when  he  spoke  at  the  Sun- 
day-school anniversary  the  next  night  the  house  was 
jammed.  And  such  a  speech!  It  combined  the  sweep 
and  freedom  of  the  hustings,  the  wild  energy  of  the 
West,  the  subtle  touches  of  a  master  in  the  forum,  and 
the  pathos  and  unction  of  a  camp-meeting  sermon.  The 
people  laughed,  cried,  and  shouted.  The  excellent 
young  brother  who  followed  him  with  a  written  speech 
erred  in  speaking  at  all.  No  written  speech  had  any 
chance  of  success  after  that  extemporaneous  triumph,  and 
there  were  not  a  dozen  platform  orators  in  all  the  land 
who  could  have  safely  taken  hold  of  that  audience  where 
McFerrin  left  them.  "A  minnow  wiggling  along  in 
the  wake  of  a  wdiale!"  whispered  a  preacher,  as  the 
young  brother  read  out  the  rounded  periods  of  a  paper 
that  was  much  praised  when  it  was  put  into  print.  Never 
put  a  man  who  reads  to  follow  one  who  speaks.  Never 
read  at  all  if  you  can  help  it. 

The  next  night  was  the  missionary  anniversary,  which 
was  then  the  climax  of  the  interest  of  an  Annual  Con- 
ference. There  wras  speaking  at  two  churches — Mc- 
Ferrin and  Bishop  George  F.  Pierce  at  the  one,  and  two 
other  well-known  and  eloquent  speakers  at  the  oth- 
er. It  is  needless  to  say  that  McFerrin  and  Pierce  drew 
the  crowd.  The  spacious  church  was  crowded  almost 
to  suffocation.  McFerrin  spoke  first.  He  began  by  a 
playful  allusion  to  Georgia  as  "  the  land  of  orators  and 
Bishops,"  declaring  that  he  felt  no  great  weight  of  re- 
sponsibility for  the  occasion,  as  he  would  be  followed  by 
their  own  matchless  and  well-beloved  Bishop.  Then  he 
turned  himself  loose,  so  to  speak,  and  made  what  was 
perhaps  the  greatest   speech  of    his  life.     It  was  on  a 


312  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

higher  key  than  the  one  of  the  night  previous,  and  was 
a  vindication  of  the  power  of  the  gospel  to  save  all  sorts 
of  men.  He  quoted  and  expounded  text  after  text  of 
Scripture  on  this  line,  showed  what  were  the  Divine  re- 
sources that  guaranteed  the  fulfillment  of  the  Divine 
promise  of  the  world's  salvation,  and  illustrated  first 
from  the  facts  of  history  and  then  from  his  own  obser- 
vation and  experience  as  a  missionary  among  the  In- 
dians. When  he  described  the  conversion  of  an  aged 
Indian  woman,  her  face  radiant  with  the  joy  that  filled 
her  soul,  her  gray  hair  streaming  behind  her  as  she  lifted 
her  tearful  eyes  to  heaven,  and  stretching  her  arms  up- 
ward and  exclaimed  in  rapture,  "Jesulonica!  Jesuloni- 
ca!  "  ("Jesus  my  Saviour"),  the  emotions  of  the  vast  au- 
dience broke  over  all  restraint,  and  he  sat  down  in  a 
tempest  of  shouts  and  sobs,  saying,  "  Bishop  Pierce  will 
now  make  an  appeal  and  take  up  a  collection." 

The  Georgians,  as  soon  as  they  recovered  themselves 
somewhat,  showed  manifest  uneasiness.  Who  could 
follow  that  address?  What  more  could  be  said  that 
would  not  be  an  anticlimax?  "What  will  George 
Pierce  do?"  anxiously  whispered  one  to  another.  He 
answered  the  question  by  rising  to  his  feet,  glancing 
over  the  dense  crowd  of  human  beings  in  front  of  him 
and  at  the  packed  galleries  above,  and  then,  smiling  as 
he  straightened  his  form  of  matchless,  manly  beauty  to 
its  full  height,  he  said:  "  My  Brother  McFerrin  is  rather 
more  ungenerous  than  usual  to-night.  After  making  the 
best  speech  of  his  life,  and  saying  all  that  ought  to  be 
said  in  the  best  way,  he  coolly  tells  you  that  /will  make 
the  appeal  and  take  up  the  collection!  The  appeal  has 
already  been  made,  and  you  are  ready  for  the  collection. 
You  have  had  a  grand  speech,  and  now  let  us  have  a 


TWO  ORATORS  ON  THEIR  METTLE. 


313 


grand  collection.     Be  liberal  to-night,  brethren,  for  it  is 
a  liberal  gospel,  backed  by  the  promise  of  the  infinite 
God  who  gave  to  his  Son  all  power  in  heaven  and  earth, 
and  through  him  to  his  Church,  whose  mission  will  be 
consummated  in  the  universal  diffusion  of  the  truth  as  it 
is  in  Jesus,  and  in  the  universal  establishment  of  his  au- 
thority among  men."    Starting  thus,  with  easy  and  grace- 
ful movement  of  thought  and  utterance,  he  dwelt  on  this 
one  point-the  liberality  of  the  provisions  of  the  gospel 
and   the   infinite   resources  of  its  Author,  guaranteeing 
its  perpetuity  and  final  triumph,  bis  form  dilating  with 
the  mighty  conception;  his  voice  swelling  into  majesty, 
vet  losing  none  of  its  music;  his  face  shining  like  an  ala- 
baster vase  with  a  lighted  candle  inside-it  was  a  literal 
transfiguration.     It  was  superhuman  eloquence,  for  ,t 
was  the  afflatus  of  the  Holy  Ghost  filling  and  firing  the 
soul  of  a  genius  whose  entire  consecrat.on   invited  his 
coming,  and  whose  physical  organism  furnished  a  fitting 
vehicle  for  expressing   the  mind  and  heart  of  God  to 
men      Does  this  description  seem   overwrought?     No 
man  or  woman  who  heard  that  marvelous  burst  of  sacred 
eloquence  would  think  so.     The  effect  was  overwhe  m- 
ir,g      The  people  scarcely  waited  for  the  collectors ;  they 
emptied   their   pockets  with    joyful  alacrity;   it  rained 
bank-notes  from  the  galleries;   Heber's  hallowed  mis- 
sionary hvmn  was  started,  and  with  the  last  victorious 
stanza  the  great  congregation   broke   into  shouts   while 
Tennessee  and  Georgia  were  embracing  each  other  in 
the  chancel.     Their  friendship  for  each  other  was  for 
many  long  years  like  that  of  Jonathan  and  David     Their 
hearts  were  fused,  and  flowed  together  that  night  m  the 
white  heat  of  a  baptism  of  fire  as  they  stood  together 
on  the  missionary  platform.     There  has  been,  there  w.ll 


314  JOHN  B.  McFBRRIN. 

be,  no  separation  of  souls  thus  blended  in  the  exalted 
fellowship  of  the  gospel.  The  crowd  flocked  to  hear 
McFerrin  preach  on  Sunday  afternoon.  Floor,  aisles, 
vestibule,  and  galleries  were  all  occupied  to  the  last  inch. 
The  Tennessee  preacher  had  magnetized  the  Confer- 
ence and  all  Atlanta,  and  all  were  eager  to  hear  him.  In 
the  pulpit  and  on  the  steps  and  in  the  chancel  were  the 
fathers  of  the  old  Georgia  Conference — Lovick  Pierce, 
prince  of  expository  preachers,  who  proclaimed  the  law 
of  God  with  the  authority  of  a  prophet,  from  whose 
lips  the  glad  tidings  of  the  gospel  distilled  as  the  dew, 
and  who  led  thousands  of  the  Lord's  peoj^le  along  the 
shining  way  of  holiness;  Samuel  Anthony,  an  Elijah  in 
heroic  fidelity  as  a  messenger  of  God,  a  Jeremiah  who, 
weeping  with  a  breaking  heart  over  sinners,  broke  their 
hearts  and  made  them  responsive  to  the  offer  of  salvation 
in  Christ,  a  mighty  preacher,  firm  and  true  as  steel,  and 
tender  like  his  Master;  William  J.  Parks,  with  a  natural 
courage  exalted  by  grace  into  the  truest  Christian  hero- 
ism, a  man  of  power  upon  whom  strong  men  leaned, 
and  whom  the  common  people  trusted  implicitly  and  fol- 
lowed; James  E.  Evans,  a  revivalist  whose  pathos  in  ser- 
mon and  song  broke  thousands  of  hearts  to  be  healed  by 
the  touch  of  Christ,  who  was  a  church-builder  and  finan- 
cier, whose  benign  and  massive  personality  would  have 
made  him  eminent  in  any  company ;  William  M.  Crumley, 
a  revivalist  whose  serene  face  only  wore  a  brighter  smile 
in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  excitements  kindled  by  the 
mysterious  power  of  his  quiet  and  simple  speech,  a  living 
demonstration  of  the  supernatural  power  of  the  gospel; 
John  W.  Glenn,  whose  massive  head,  burly  frame,  short 
neck,  heavy  eyebrows,  and  positive  ways  typed  the  com- 
mon sense,  sturdiness,  power,  and  persistence  that  made 


TWO  ORATORS  ON  THEIR  METTLE.         315 


htm  a  leader  of  the  people;  Walter  R.  Branham,  who 
in  a  playful  alphabetical  classification  of  the  preachers 
of  the  Conference  by  a  man  of  the  world  was  marked 
"A"  as  the  first  in  the  polish  that  makes  a  gentleman 
and  the  grace  that  makes  a  saint,  a  Philip  Sidney  blend- 
ed with   a  John   Fletcher;  Edward  H.  Myers,  scholar 
and  thinker,  with  the  ardor  of  a  reformer  and  the  ten- 
derness of  an  evangelist;  Alfred  T.  Mann,  whose  ser- 
mons shone  with  intellectual  light  and  not  seldom  burned 
with  the  intenser  spiritual  glow  that  charmed  all  classes 
of  hearers  and  edified   the  believing— these,  and   others 
scarcely  less  noted  and  equally  worthy  of  praise,  were 
there  filling  the  front  seats  and  chancel,  and  even   the 
pulpit  steps,  to  hear  McFerrin's  sermon  at  3  o'clock  in 
the   afternoon.     The  text  was  Colossians  iii.    2:    "Set 
your  affections  on   things  above,  not  on   things  on  the 
earth."     It  was  a  strange  sermon— strange  in  its  quality 
and  in  its  effect.     It  was  so  simple  that  a  child  could  have 
understood  every  word   of    it;    not  a   single   rhetorical 
flourish  was  in  it,  nor  a  flight  of  fancy,  nor  the  least  dis- 
play of  learning.      The  things  that  are  above  and  those 
that  are  on  the  earth  were  put  in  contrast  in  a  way  that 
brought  the  thought  of  the  text  home  to  the  hearts  of 
the  people  with  directness  and  skill,  yet  so  quietly  and 
simply  that  nobody  was  conscious  that  he  was  listening 
to  a  great  sermon  until  he  found   himself  with  all  the 
vast  audience  strangely  moved  and  melted.     "  This  has 
been   to  me  the  saddest  and   gladdest  year  of  my  life," 
he  exclaimed,  at  the  close,  while  the  tears  were  raining 
upon  a  thousand  faces  around  him.     «  My  heart  has  been 
broken  by  sorrow  and  comforted  by  grace.     Earth  has 
been  darkened,  but  heaven  is  nearer,  sweeter,  and  bright- 
er.    Glory  be  to  God!     If  I  were  to  follow  the  impulse 


316  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

that  now  swells  in  my  heart,  I  would  stop  my  sermon 
right  here,  and  out  of  the  depths  of  my  adoring  soul  I 
would  say,  Halleluiah  to  the  Lamb!  Yes,  I  will  say 
it.  Halleluiah!  halleluiah!"  Then  the  fountains  of 
the  great  deep  were  broken  up.  Dr.  Pierce,  whose 
heart  and  lips  had  made  a  special  response  to  McFerrin's 
tender  allusion  to  his  dead  wife,  answered  back,  M  Hal- 
leluiah!" The  word  was  caught  up  from  every  part  of 
the  house,  the  people  by  one  common  impulse  rising  to 
their  feet  and  shouting  "  Halleluiah!  "  as  with  one  voice 
again  and  again  in  a  mighty  burst  of  joy. 

If  great  effects  are  the  credentials  of  a  great  orator, 
then  McFerrin  was  one.  This  scene  at  Atlanta  was  not 
exceptional  in  his  history,  though  it  is  perhaps  true  that 
his  marvelous  pulpit  power  never  rose  to  a  higher  point 
than  it  did  that  day.  What  was  the  secret  of  that  power? 
We  can  give  no  better  answer  than  that  which  was  given 
in  the  whispered  comment  of  a  gray-haired  preacher, 
whose  eyes  were  still  wet  with  tears  as  he  left  the  church: 
"  That  was  Holy  Ghost  preaching." 


WITH  THE  VIRGINIANS  IN   1858. 


1 


N  the  autumn  of   1S5S  the  good  Bishop  Kavanaugh 
.   presided  at  the  session  of  the  Virginia  Conference, 
held  in  hospitable  Portsmouth,  washed  by  the  waves  of 
the  blue  Chesapeake.     That  is  a  good  place  to  visit  at 
that  season  of  the  year.     If  there  were  nothing  else,  the 
deliciousness   of    the   Chesapeake   oysters   would   make 
Norfolk    and  Portsmouth— twin  cities  by  the  sea— de- 
lightful to  all  who  relish  that  bivalve,  which  comes  to 
perfection  in  those  waters,  and  which  those  tide-water 
Virginians  cook  in  a  way  that  reaches  the  very  poetry 
of  the  culinary  art.     With  the  rotund  and  rubicund  Kav- 
anaugh in  the  chair,  overflowing  as  usual  with  good  hu- 
mor, and  radiating  the  sunshine  of  his  great,  loving  heart, 
the  brethren  invigorated  by  the  sea-breezes,  rejoicing  in 
the  exuberant  animal  spirits  consequent  upon  good  fare 
and  good  consciences  after  a  good  year's  work,  it  was  a 
memorably  pleasant  reunion.     The  weather  was  beauti- 
ful, the  Conference  was  full,  and  large  congregations  of 
friendly  spectators  crowded  the  auditorium.     Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrinwas  in  attendance  as  a  representative  of  the  Pub- 
lishing House  and  other  Connectional  interests  of  the 
Church.     On  Friday  forenoon   the   Bishop   introduced 
him  to  the  body.     Among  other  things  he  presented  a 
paper  proposing  some  Connectional  enterprise,  soliciting 
the  approval  and  co-operation  of  the  Virginia  Confer- 
ence.    After    explaining   and   advocating  the    measure 
proposed,  he  took  his  seat.     There  was  a  brief  silence. 


318  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

The  Virginians  are  good  and  ready  talkers,  but  they  are 
not  lacking  in  dignity  and  decorum.  The  silence  was 
broken  by  Dr.  Leroy  M.  Lee,  the  editor  of  the  Rich- 
mond  Christian  Advocate,  who  was  a  logical  and  effect- 
ive speaker  as  well  as  a  writer  of  great  ability,  especially 
in  polemics.  On  this  occasion  he  seemed  to  hesitate, 
approaching  the  matter  in  hand  slowly  and  cautiously, 
exhibiting  evident  signs  of  doubt  as  to  the  expediency 
of  favorable  action  on  the  part  of  the  Conference. 
"But,  Mr.  President,"  he  continued,  "this  is  a  Connec- 
tional  enterprise,  and  demands  the  thoughtful  considera- 
tion of  this  body.  True,  we  have  under  consideration 
several  local  Conference  schemes  which  demand  the  se- 
rious and  thoughtful  attention  of  this  body;  but  these 
Conference  enterprises  must,  in  a  measure,  yield  to  the 
Connectional  interests  of  the  whole  Church.  To  insure 
the  success  of  the  measure  presented  in  the  paper  sub- 
mitted by  our  friend,  Dr.  McFerrin,  it  must  have  the 
hearty  co-operation  of  the  Virginia  Conference.  The 
Virginia  Conference,  you  know,  Mr.  President,  is  the 
oldest,  the  wisest,  and  the  most  influential  body  in  our 
general  Church,  and  without  its  aid  this  or  any  similar 
enterprise  would  likely  fail.  I  therefore  move  that  the 
plan  proposed  in  the  paper  of  Dr.  McFerrin  be  adopted, 
and  that  we  give  it  our  sanction  and  support."  Having 
thus  spoken,  he  sat  down. 

McFerrin  arose,  smiling  and  with  mischief  in  his  eye, 
and  said:  "Mr.  President,  I  am  truly  thankful  to  Dr. 
Lee  for  the  resolution  proposing  the  adoption  of  the 
measure  before  us,  but  am  still  more  indebted  for  his  ac- 
companying speech.  We  of  the  West  are  duly  im- 
pressed with  the  necessity  of  having  the  co-operation  of 
the  Virginia   Conference   in   every  important  measure. 


WITH  THE   VIRGINIANS  IN  1838.  319 

The  Virginia  Conference  belongs  to  the  Old  Dominion, 
the  land  of  Presidents,  statesmen,  orators,  and  divines. 
She  is  located  east  of  the  lofty  mountains  that  divide 
our  great  country  east  and  west.  I  do  not  forget,  sir, 
that  there  is  not  a  ray  of  light  that  falls  on  the  broad 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi  that  does  not  first  illumine  the 
East  [laughter];  indeed,  all  the  light  we  have  comes 
from  the  East  [more  laughter].  All  the  daughters  of 
this  mother  of  Conferences  appreciate  the  importance, 
influence,  intelligence,  and  power  of  the  Virginia  Con- 
ference. We  place,  we  think,  a  due  estimate  upon  the 
learning,  eloquence,  and  power  of  her  preachers,  and 
cherish  with  pleasure  the  memory  of  the  fathers.  With- 
out multiplying  words,  Mr.  President,  I  bow  humbly  to 
this  great  body  [bowing  low  as  he  spoke],  and  concede 
with  pleasure  that  the  Virginia  Conference  is  the  most 
greatest  body  of  ministers  connected  with  the  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church,  South."     [Renewed  laughter]. 

That  last  good-natured  hit,  delivered  in  his  inimitable 
manner,  immensely  amused  the  well-bred  Virginians, 
and  brought  clown  the  house,  almost  the  entire  assembly 
applauding,  the  good-natured  Bishop  joining  in  the  mer- 
riment. But  there  was  at  least  one  man  in  the  Confer- 
ence who  resisted  and  resented  the  pleasant  uproar.  The 
Rev.  George  W.  Langhorne,  a  man  of  excellent  char- 
acter and  real  ability,  of  solemn  mien  and  precise  ways, 
rose  amid  the  excitement,  and  said:  "Mr.  President,  I 
wish  you  would  call  the  Conference  to  order.  The 
Church  of  God  is  not  a  place  for  such  demonstrations 
as  this.  We  are  not  in  a  theater  or  opera  house,  but  in 
the  church  of  God,  and  it  becomes  us  to  be  sober."  In 
a  short  time  all  became  quiet,  and  amid  profound  silence 
McFerrin  rose  and   said   with   assumed  gravity,   again 


320  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

bowing  obsequiously :  "  I  beg  Brother  Langhorne's  par- 
don. I  intended  no  disrespect  to  the  Conference  or  au- 
dience, nor  did  I  intend  to  exhibit  any  lack  of  reverence 
for  the  house  of  God.  I  have  a  profound  respect  for 
the  temple  of  the  Most  High  and  the  teachings  of  God's 
blessed  word,  which  says  there  is  a  time  to  mourn  and 
a  time  to  laugh;  we  are  told  to  weep  with  those  that 
weep,  and  to  rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice.  Con- 
forming to  these  directions,  I  have  made  it  my  rule 
through  life  to  cry  at  funerals  and  to  laugh  at  wed- 
dings." 

The  uproar  was  renewed,  and  became  unmanageable. 
McFerrin's  paper  was  adopted  without  a  dissenting  vote. 
Perhaps  Brother  Langhorne  groaned  in  spirit,  but  no 
farther  attempt  was  made  to  check  the  exuberance  of 
the  irrepressible  Tennessean.  From  that  time  forward 
McFerrin  was  always  a  welcome  visitor  to  the  Virginia 
Conference.  When  he  came  the  brethren  expected  a 
stir,  and  they  were  not  disappointed.  Their  risible 
muscles  were  sure  to  be  titilated  and  their  lachrymal 
glands  excited  by  a  humor  that  never  lost  its  flavor,  and 
a  pathos  that  no  bodv  of  Christian  people  could  ever 
resist. 


AFTER  MANY  DAYS. 


A  FAITHFUL  servant  of  God  who  lives  to  a  ripe  old 
age  is  sometimes  permitted  to  antedate  in  part  one 
of  the  experiences  that  will  be  an  element  of  the  eternal 
felicity  that  awaits  him  in  the  life  to  come.  He  is  per- 
mitted to  see  the  fruits  of  his  labors.  Often  he  makes 
discoveries  on  this  line  that  give  him  pleasant  surprises 
and  fore-gleams  of  gladder  and  grander  revelations  here- 
after. 

Dr.  McFerrin's  last  years  were  thus  blessed  in  an  un- 
usual degree.  He  had  preached  so  long,  traveled  so 
widely,  and  touched  so  many  lives  in  so  many  ways, 
that,  as  he  neared  the  end,  his  ears  were  saluted  on  all 
sides  by  these  echoes  of  the  past.  The  faithful  words 
that  he  had  spoken  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  ministry 
came  back  to  him  freighted  with  comfort  to  his  own 
soul.  "  I  was  converted  under  your  ministry  when  I 
was  a  boy,"  said  a  gray-haired  saint  in  one  place  as  he 
greeted  him  affectionately.  "You  took  me  into  the 
Church  when  I  was  a  girl,  and  I  am  still  journeying  on 
heavenward,"  said  a  venerated  mother  in  Israel,  in  an- 
other. "  You  took  both  of  my  parents  into  the  Church; 
they  died  in  the  faith,  and  all  their  children  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Church,"  said  a  brother,  who  was  a  strong 
pillar  in  the  Church.  "  The  Christian  Advocate  has 
been  in  our  family  ever  since  you  first  became  its  editor, 
and  next  to  the  Bible  it  has  molded  my  opinions  and  in- 
fluenced my  life,"  said  another.  Such  words  as  these 
21  (321) 


322  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

greeted  him  constantly  wherever  he  went.  It  was  a 
rare  thing  for  him  to  preach  anywhere  in  Tennessee 
without  some  occurrence  of  the  kind.  In  the  very  last 
year  of  his  life  an  aged  Methodist  lady  in  Sumner 
County  told  him  that  she  was  converted  to  God  while 
he  was  singing  a  song  at  a  camp-meeting  fifty  years 
before.  "I  remember,"  she  said,  "the  hour,  the  words 
of  the  song,  and  the  tune."  Among  the  preachers  he 
met  not  a  few  of  the  ablest  and  best  claimed  him  as 
their  spiritual  father.  These  were  grateful  reminders 
along  all  the  pathway  of  threescore  years  and  more,  and 
the  echoes  were  like  the  notes  of  a  prolonged  strain  of 
music.  It  is  a  blessed  thing  now  in  this  life,  and  typical 
of  the  fuller  blessedness  of  the  life  to  come,  that  the  dis- 
cords drop  out  of  the  memory  and  only  the  music  re- 
mains. From  the  unhindered  operation  of  this  law  will 
come  the  perfect  concord  and  unbroken  blessedness  of 
the  heavenly  world. 

One  of  these  incidents  occurred  during  a  visit  of  Dr. 
McFerrin  to  the  Indian  Territory  in  the  year  1S71, 
when  he  was  Missionary  Secretary.  It  is  narrated  by 
Bishop  McTyeire,  who  was  an  eye-witness.  Arriving 
at  Fort  Gibson,  the  Bishop  and  the  Doctor  found  that 
they  had  to  stay  until  the  next  morning,  and  then  to 
take  the  four-horse  line  to  their  destination,  one  hundred 
and  forty  miles. 

"A  lady  of  St.  Louis,"  says  the  Bishop,  "  who  was 
of  our  company — Mrs.  Dr.  M. — had  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  Mr.  L.,  a  merchant  of  the  place.  Knowing 
ones  advised  us  that  Mr.  L.  sometimes  entertained  trav- 
elers, and  that  it  would  be  to  our  interest  to  stop  there, 
if  possible,  for  it  was  the  best  place  in  Fort  Gibson. 
Halting  at  the  door,  where  every  thing  was  shut  up  and 


AFTER  MANT  DAI'S.  323 

still,  we  were  met  by  a  lady  who,  with  polite  reluctance, 
admitted  us.  The  hotel  was  small  and  full,  and  we  were 
not  easily  put  off.  Dr.  McFerrin  and  myself  and  two 
ladies  were  soon  inside.  The  light  of  the  room  showed 
the  lady  of  the  house  to  be  a  half-breed  Indian.  Mrs. 
Dameron,  at  St.  Louis,  had  supplied  us  with  abundant 
lunch,  and  we  agreed  to  do  without  supper,  in  view  of 
bed  and  breakfast.  A  scene  awaited  us  not  down  in  the 
bill,  and  all  the  better  for  its  surprise  to  all  parties.  Our 
Missionary  Secretary  was  once,  in  his  boyhood  ministry, 
a  missionary  to  the  Cherokees  in  North  Alabama  and 
Georgia.  That  was  a  good  while  ago — away  back  in 
1829  and  1830.  He  carelessly  remarked,  in  an  interrog- 
ative tone,  'We  are  in  the  Creek  Nation,  I  reckon?' 

"'No,  sir;  you  are  in  the  Cherokee  Nation,'  the  lady 
replied.  Dr.  McFerrin  thought  he  discovered  in  the 
reply  something  of  the  Cherokee  pride  of  nationality, 
for  the  Cherokees  riold  themselves  to  be  the  nobility  of 
the  Indian  race.     He  continued : 

"'  Where  did  you  come  from,  Madam?  You  were 
not  raised  in  this  country  ? ' 

"'I  came  from  Alabama. 

" « From  what  part  of  Alabama  did  you  come,  Madam  ? ' 

" '  From  Gunter's  Landing.  My  name  was  Catherine 
Gunter.' " 

The  reader  may  imagine  these  questions  and  answers 
as  increasing  in  interest,  and  with  what  emotion  the 
next  inquiry  was  made: 

" «  Katie  Gunter,  do  you  know  me  ? ' 

"'No,  sir;  I  don't  know  you.' 

"'Don't  you  remember  John  B.  McFerrin?' 

"For  a  moment  she  sat  as  one  that  had  been  stunned { 
another  moment,   she    put  her   hand   on  his  knee   and 


324  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


looked  intently  into  his  face;  then,  in  an  abandon  of  joy, 
she  threw  her  arms  around  his  neck  and  wept. 

"  The  Doctor's  eyes  were  not  dry,  and  he  was  a  most 
unresisting  victim  of  this  delightful  recognition.  For 
forty-one  years  they  had  not  met.  He  had  preached 
and  taught  a  missionary  school  in  her  home;  he  knew 
her  parents,  brothers,  sisters,  all. 

"  Very  soon  there  was  a  stir  in  the  kitchen,  and  weary 
travelers  were  invited  to  hot  coffee.  The  ladies  declared 
that  the  bed-sheets  were  snowy  white;  the  breakfast  was 
good  enough  for  a  king,  and  not  a  cent  was  anybody  al- 
lowed to  pay  at  parting  the  next  morning. 

"  Weary  as  I  was  that  night,  I  was  interested  by  the 
conversation  that  followed.  All  the  Gunter  family  were 
gone  over — Sam,  and  Ned,  and  Patsy,  and  Betsy,  etc.; 
the  Ross  family,  both  John  (the  chief)  and  'little  Jack' 
Ross,  and  others.  What  various  histories  and  destinies! 
and  nearly  all  ending  in — '  he  died.'  It  was  touching  to 
hear  our  hostess  now  and  then  speak  of  the  '  Old  Na- 
tion.' What  would  she  think,  how  would  she  feel,  if 
she  could  revisit  Guntersville,  and  Chattanooga,  and 
Will's  Valley,  and  Etowah,  now?  Some  of  the  histo- 
ries were  very  sad ;  one,  at  least,  was  triumphant:  <  What 
became  of  her?"1  asked  the  missionary  of  forty  years 
ago,  naming  a  pious  Indian  woman  who  was  one  of  his 
members,  and  famous  for  shouting.  «  Did  she  keep  it 
up  after  coming  to  this  country  ? '  '  O  yes,'  was  the  re- 
ply; 'she  shouted  as  long  as  she  lived,  and  she  died 
a-shouting.' 

"Affectionate  inquiries  were  made  after  other  mission- 
aries in  the  <  Old  Nation.'  Greenbcrry  Garrett  was  called 
in  this  connection.  His  Indian  name  was  Ta-nu-cah, 
which  means  gar-fish,  taken  from  the  first   syllable  of 


AFTER  MANT  DA  VS.  325 

his  name.  My  hostess  was  glad  to  hear  that  I  had  seen 
him  in  his  comfortable  home  at  Summerfield,  Alabama, 
so  late  as  November  of  last  year.  Oo-skil-le-lah  was 
Ambrose  Driskill.  His  name  was  given  him,  our  Cher- 
okee friend  said,  because  when  a  young  man  his  hair 
curled,  and  that  his  hair  yet  curled ;  but  the  poll  of  forty 
years  ago  was  considerably  thinned  out  in  these  last  days 
and  hard  times. 

"Our  hymn-book  (last  edition)  was  on  the  table,  and 
other  Methodist  books.  We  were  in  a  Methodist  house. 
The  husband  was  introduced  to  us,  a  white  man  of  rep- 
utation as  the  leading  merchant  in  the  place.  The  son 
and  two  daughters  were  also  introduced,  refined  and  cul- 
tivated people,  with  whom  it  was  a  pleasure  to  converse 
and  to  sojourn.  The  son  is  a  prosperous  young  mer- 
chant, bearing  strongly  his  mother's  likeness. 

"  This  meeting  of  Dr.  McFerrin  with  his  Cherokee 
friend  made  one  think  of  that  day,  and  of  the  joy  with 
which  a  saved  spirit  will  recognize  a  benefactor  long  lost 
sight  of,  but  not  forgotten.  We  meet  with  our  fellow- 
beings — talk,  do  business,  teach,  preach,  converse  with 
them  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time.  We  part.  But  there 
is,  in  the  hereafter,  a  place  and  time  where  we  shall  meet 
every  one  of  them  of  every  race  again.  Shall  it  be  with 
joy  or  grief?  Are  we  prepared  for  it  in  the  case  of 
every  soul  of  man  with  whom  we  have  had  to  do?" 

After  many  days  all  that  has  been  sown  shall  be 
reaped.  This  will  be  heaven  or  it  will  be  hell  to  each 
one  of  us. 


A  GENEALOGICAL  ENCYCLOPEDIA. 


EVERY  great  man  has  a  great  memory.  It  may 
be  a  verbal  memory,  or  it  may  be  a  memory  for 
facts,  for  dates,  or  for  names  and  faces.  This  last  is  the 
politician's  gift.  That  extraordinary  party  leader,  Henry 
Clay,  it  is  said,  never  forgot  a  name  or  a  face.  Every 
friendly  voter  in  his  Congressional  District  felt  that  he 
was  a  personal  friend  to  the  great  num  who  so  mag- 
netized millions  of  his  countrymen  that  his  dictum  was 
their  political  creed  and  his  defeat  the  chiefest  national 
calamity  they  dreaded.  'His  rival,  Andrew  Jackson, 
was  similarly  endowed  for  popular  leadership ;  lie  never 
forgot  his  friends,  and  so  drew  them  to  himself  that  they 
were  ready  to  speak,  vote,  fight,  and  die  for  him.  Had 
Clay  been  a  soldier,  with  a  fair  field  for  the  display  of 
his  ability  as  a  leader  of  men,  and  as  a  strategist  and  tac- 
tician, he  would  have  ranked  with  the  greatest  captains 
of  all  the  ages.  Jackson  never  lost  a  battle.  McFer- 
rin's  personal  acquaintance,  perhaps,  exceeded  that  of 
any  man  of  his  generation.  His  massive  and  unique 
personality  so  impressed  the  people  that  they  never  for- 
got him,  and  his  gift  of  recalling  faces  and  names  pre- 
vented him  from  forgetting  them.  He  was  the  great 
commoner  of  Southern  Methodism— the  people's  man, 
the  man  they  all  knew,  the  man  they  all  believed  in,  the 
man  whose  sayings  they  repeated,  and  whose  lead  they 
were  ready  to  follow.  He  was  a  genealogical  encyclo- 
pedia for  Tennessee.  One  day,  shortly  after  I  became 
(326) 


A  GENEAL  OGICAL  ENC  TCL  OP  EDI  A.  327 

editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate,  wishing  to  learn  some- 
thing of  the  writer  of  a  letter  to  the  paper,  I  took  it  to 
him  and  asked,  "  Do  you  know  this  man  ? "  "  What's 
the  name?"  he  demanded,  in  his  high  interrogative  nasal 
tone.  I  repeated  the  name.  His  face  brightened  all 
over  as  he  said :  "  Yes,  I  know  him,  and  I  know  his 
family  connections.  I  took  his  grandfather  into  the 
Church;  I  officiated  at  the  marriage  of  his  sister  Mar- 
garet, and  at  the  burial  of  his  mother;"  and  then  fol- 
lowed detail  of  the  family  connections,  amazing  alike  in 
its  minuteness  and  its  extent.  I  never  ceased  to  won- 
der at  this  marvelous  faculty  as  exhibited  by  him.  A 
notable  instance  is  related  by  the  scholarly  and  excellent 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.  Wright,  of  the  Tennessee  Conference. 
Dr.  McFerrin  spent  a  night  at  his  father's  house  when 
he  was  a  boy  of  six  or  seven  years  of  age.  He  never 
saw  him  again  until  he  was  over  seventeen  years  old, 
when,  on  a  visit  to  Nashville,  he  went  into  his  office  and 
found  him  seated  at  his  desk  writing.  "  Good-morn- 
ing," said  the  youth,  and  instantly  the  Doctor  recognized 
him,  and  exclaimed:  "Why,  this  is  James  Wright! 
How  are  you,  my  son?"      The  youth  was  astonished. 

"Do  you  know  me,  Doctor?"  some  one  would  ask, 
after  his  sight  had  failed.  "  W^hat  did  you  say  your 
name  was?"  he  would  reply;  and  getting  the  name,  he 
would  instantly  recall  the  person,  his  residence,  his  kin- 
dred, and  all  about  him.  Of  the  multitudes  he  received 
into  the  Church  he  rarely  forgot  one,  not  only  recollect- 
ing the  name,  but  the  time,  place,  and  attendant  circum- 
stances. One  joined  the  Church  under  his  ministry  at  a 
quarterly  meeting  at  Salem ;  another  was  convicted  at  a 
camp-meeting  by  a  sermon  from  a  certain  text,  and  con- 
verted amid  singing  and  shoutings  never  to  be  forgotten ; 


328  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


and  yet  others  at  this  place  and  that,  all  over  the  land. 
In  his  later  years  his  journeyings  were  attended  with  re- 
unions with  his  spiritual  children  and  old  friends,  so 
many  and  so  tender  that  his  way  was  lighted  by  smiles 
and  greeted  with  tears.  The  hand  that  had  been  given 
to  the  grandfather  or  grandmother  in  token  of  fellowship 
when  received  into  the  Church,  and  which  had  smoothed 
the  dying-pillow  of  a  father  or  mother,  was  grasped  with 
the  warmth  of  an  affection  almost  filial.  He  was  the 
patriarch  of  the  Methodist  tribe  in  all  Tennessee  and 
beyond,  the  repository  of  their  history,  and  the  ncxzis 
that  held  three  generations — the  fathers  and  mothers, 
their  children,  and  their  children's  children — in  a  sacred 
continuity  of  family  and  Church  life.  His  coming  was 
the  signal  for  a  sort  of  general  reunion.  Kindling  with 
the  local  recollections,  he  would  revivify  the  old  times; 
and  recalling  the  names  of  the  holy  dead,  his  voice  would 
tremble  with  emotion,  while  through  the  responsive 
crowds  would  sweep  great  surges  of  feeling  that  none 
could  resist.  The  old  men  would  press  their  way  to 
where  he  stood,  grasp  his  hand,  or  fall  upon  his  neck, 
weeping,  as  they  thought  of  the  days  when  the  aged 
preacher  and  themselves  were  young,  and  of  the  be- 
loved dead  who  had  since  then  gone  home  to  God. 

This  wonderful  recollection  of  persons  was  not  con- 
fined to  Methodists.  It  embraced  all  sorts  of  people 
with  whom  he  was  in  any  way  brought  into  contact, 
"He  knows  more  about  our  Presbyterian  people  in  Ten- 
nessee than  I  do,"  said  a  leading  minister  of  that  denom- 
ination. Of  the  history  of  the  public  men  of  the  State 
his  knowledge  was  extensive  and  accurate,  and  his  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  them  familiar.  From  the  days 
of  Andrew  Jackson,  Felix  Grundy,  and  James  K.  Polk 


A  GENEALOGICAL  ENCYCLOPEDIA.  329 

to  those  of  John  Bell  and  Andrew  Johnson,  and  further 
on  to  Isham  G.  Harris,  James  D.  Porter,  and  William 
B.  Bate,  he  knew  the  leaders  of  all  the  political  parties, 
and  had  for  every  one  he  met  a  hearty  salutation,  an  ad- 
monition, or  a  pleasantry,  or  both,  so  skillfully  put  to- 
gether that  the  one  was  made  an  efficient  vehicle  for  the 
other.  He  had  the  confidence  of  them  all,  and  though 
many  of  them  belonged  not  to  his  religious  Communion, 
there  was  scarcely  one  of  them  who  in  his  old  age 
would  have  hesitated  to  assign  him  the  first  place  among 
the  ministers  of  Christ  in  his  State — not  the  first  in 
scholarship  or  general  culture,  but  the  first  in  the  strength 
of  his  individuality,  in  the  weight  of  character  and  in- 
fluence, and  in  the  universal  veneration  and  affection  ac- 
corded to  him.  He  had  so  many  touches  of  nature  that 
it  made  everybody  feel  akin  to  him.  He  was  a  privi- 
leged character.  Christians  of  other  denominations  took 
his  keen,  yet  not  unkindly,  thrusts  in  good  part.  The 
satire  with  which  he  lashed  the  follies  he  saw  among 
his  own  people  was  rather  relished  for  its  pungency 
than  resented  for  its  severity.  And  it  was  often  noticed 
that  the  hardest  sinners  would  take  more  reproof  from  him 
than  from  anybody  else.  So  strikingly  was  this  true 
that  the  question  was  raised  whether  the  good-will  of 
this  class  was  purchased  by  any  compromise  of  minis- 
terial fidelity  on  his  part.  No  imputation  of  this  sort 
could  justly  be  made  against  him.  A  plainer,  more  faith- 
ful preacher  of  righteousness  could  not  be  found.  He 
spared  no  form  of  error  or  species  of  folly  in  the  Church, 
and  no  wickedness  outside  of  it.  When  he  filled  the 
pulpit  the  people  expected  that  all  sorts  of  wrong-doing 
would  be  denounced  and  satirized,  and  they  were  seldom 
disappointed.     But  the  breadth  of  his  sympathies  and 


330  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

his  knowledge  of  human  nature  enabled  him  to  correct 
wrong  where  another  would  only  have  irritated  the  of- 
fender, and  to  draw  the  subject  of  his  rebukes  to  the 
preacher  while  he  turned  him  from  his  evil  way.  This 
is  a  rare  gift,  lacking  in  many  men  of  purest  metal,  who 
for  their  fidelity  pay  the  price  of  unpopularity  with  the 
very  beneficiaries  of  their  labors.  Let  no  man  of  this 
class  envy  the  gift  denied  to  them.  They  escape  its  con- 
sequent peril — the  temptation  to  blunt  the  sharp  edge  of 
truth  that  may  offend — and  verily  they  will  find  that  for 
all  human  applause  lost  by  them  because  of  faithful  dis- 
charge of  duty  the  Lord  whom  they  serve  will  bestow 
compensations  so  large  and  so  lasting  that  nothing  will 
be  left  for  them  to  regret  and  nothing  to  desire.  In 
one  case  it  was  intimated  that  McFerrin,  in  conducting 
a  funeral  service  in  memory  of  an  old  friend,  allowed 
his  remarks  to  take  a  latitudinarian  sweep  which  he 
would  not  have  been  slow  to  condemn  in  another. 
When  I  mentioned  the  matter  to  him  he  was  thought- 
fully silent  for  a  few  moments,  and  then  said,  gently: 
"He  was  an  old  friend  and  a  noble  man.  I  tried  to  be 
tender  toward  the  dead,  yet  faithful  to  the  living."  And 
then  he  gave  me  an  outline  of  what  he  said  on  the  oc- 
casion, which,  if  his  memory  was  correct,  certainly  vin- 
dicated him  fully.  But  it  remains  true  that  friendship 
may  jurove  a  snare  to  even  the  truest  and  bravest  servant 
of  God.  Let  each  one,  therefore,  watch  and  pray  lest 
he  enter  into  the  temptation  which  may  come  thus  dis- 
guised. 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  HERO. 


THE  unfailing  popularity  of  McFerrin  with  the 
young  people  furnishes  a  subject  for  curious  psy- 
chological study.  It  might  be  thought  that  between  the 
strong,  angular,  masterful  preacher  and  the  hearts  of 
children  there  was  a  great  gulf.  But  it  was  not  so. 
The  fact  is,  there  is  a  natural  sympathy  between  all 
honest,  healthy,  hearty  men  and  young  life.  Was  there 
ever  a  good  man  or  a  good  woman  who  did  not  love 
children?  No  child-hater  could  possibly  be  a  Christian. 
Such  a  soul  could  have  no  kinship  with  Him  who  took 
little  children  in  his  arms,  put  his  hands  upon  them, 
and  blessed  them.  No  child-hater  was  ever  called  to 
the  ministry  of  the  gospel.  The  hand  that  feeds  Jesus' 
lambs  must  have  the  skill  which  only  true  tenderness 
can  impart.  McFerrin  had  this  mark  of  a  true  under- 
shepherd.  He  loved  children  and  young  people.  His 
own  exuberant  physical  life  put  him  in  sympathy  with 
the  buoyancy  and  brightness  of  childhood  and  youth. 
He  had  heard  in  his  inner  soul  a  voice  that  said,  "  Feed 
my  lambs."  His  simplicity  attracted  them.  A  fond- 
ness for  innocent  mischief  was  inherent  in  him,  and  he 
could  smile  at  their  little  pranks  and  enter  into  their  lit- 
tle joys  and  griefs.  The  boy  element  never  left  him. 
If,  in  the  judgment  of  men  of  more  sedate  temper,  it 
broke  out  too  strongly  at  times,  it  was  all  his  life  an  ele- 
ment of  ministerial  success  to  him.  The  young  people 
never  tired  of   him.     They   would   flock  to   hear   him 

(331) 


332  JOHN  B.  McFERRlN. 

speak  in  public,  and  hung  about  him  to  hear  him  talk  in 
private.  He  was  their  hero..  His  bold,  masterful  way 
pleased  them.  The  imagination  of  the  young  kindles 
at  any  exhibition  of  unusual  power,  whether  by  a  cham- 
pion wrestler,  a  bear-hunter,  a  soldier,  or  a  preacher. 
The  man  of  whose  polemic  triumphs  they  heard  their 
parents  speak  with  pride  was  regarded  with  admiring 
affection  by  the  young  people.  And  then  what  a  treat 
it  was  to  them  when  he  stood  before  them  and  gave 
loose  rein  to  his  rollicking  fun  and  flashed  gospel  truth 
into  their  minds  in  statements  singularly  simple  and  lucid, 
and  illustrated  it  in  a  way  they  could  never  forget! 
Sometimes  the  fun  he  created  in  speaking  to  an  assembly 
of  young  people  would  become  so  uproarious  that  devout 
and  timid  souls  would  groan  in  spirit,  wishing  he  would 
put  more  restraint  upon  himself  at  that  point.  His  in- 
describable and  inimitable  intonations,  his  facial  contor- 
tions— apparently  involuntary  and  unconscious — his  per- 
sonal hits  at  some  one  present  who  offered  a  tempting 
mark  for  his  sarcastic  or  humorous  shots,  his  interjected 
exclamations  and  apostrophes  that  tingled  like  electric 
shocks,  often  made  his  addresses  to  the  young  people 
occasions  of  extraordinary  excitement.  But  he  usually 
managed  to  control  the  storm  he  raised,  and  before  he 
ended  his  talk  the  boisterous  laughter  subsided,  and  the 
little  faces  and  those  of  the  older  persons  present  would  be 
wet  with  tears  as  he  told  of  his  own  experience  as  a  boy- 
disciple,  or  illustrated  some  truth  by  an  incident  whose 
pathos  broke  up  the  great  deep  of  their  hearts.  In  these 
talks  to  children  he  spoke  of  Jesus  so  simply  and  sweetly 
that  the  smallest  child  understood  him,  and  he  rarely 
failed  to  drop  the  right  seed  into  the  little  hearts  to  which 
his  tact   had   found   the  way  of   access.     One   instance 


THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE'S  HERO.  333 

comes  to  mind  here.  At  a  session  of  the  Kentucky 
Conference,  at  Richmond,  in  that  State,  a  children's 
mass-meeting  was  held  on  Sunday  afternoon.  It  was  in- 
deed a  children's  mass-meeting;  the  church  was  packed 
in  every  inch  of  space.  It  had  been  announced  that  Dr. 
McFerrin  would  make  a  speech  and  sing  a  song  in  the 
Indian  language.  Expectation  sparkled  in  every  eye  as 
the  boys  and  girls  sat  and  looked  upon  the  rugged  and 
remarkable  old  man  who  sat  within  the  chancel  with  his 
eyes  half  closed  and  his  head  leaning  on  his  left  hand. 
After  the  melodious  J.  II.  Rand,  presiding  elder,  sung 
some  songs  with  the  children  and  offered  a  prayer,  Dr. 
Morris  Evans,  then  pastor  of  the  Richmond  Methodist 
Church,  introduced  Dr.  McFerrin.  A  stenographic  re- 
port of  the  S]Deech  he  made  would  be  a  literary  curios- 
ity. It  was  every  thing  by  turns  that  a  speech  could  be 
within  the  limits  of  an  hour.  The  hearers  wondered 
and  laughed  and  cried.  The}'  winced  under  his  cate- 
chetical probings;  they  relaxed  under  the  sallies  of  his 
broad  humor  until  decorum  seemed  to  be  in  danger  of 
being  totally  lost.  The  Indian  song,  or  Cherokee  ver- 
sion of  the  old  camp-meeting  hymn,  "  I'm  bound  for  the 
land  of  Canaan,"  was  strangely  thrilling  as  he  trump- 
eted forth  the  curious  syllables  to  the  old  tune  whose 
melody  was  familiar  to  tens  of  thousands  fifty  years  ago. 
At  the  last,  by  a  route  such  as  no  one  else  could  have 
followed,  he  came  to  the  great  matter  pi  personal  salva- 
tion, and  pressed  it  home  upon  the  consciences  and  hearts 
of  the  tearful  children  in  the  question,  "  Do  you  love 
Jesus?''  He  had  condensed  the  gospel  into  that  simple 
interrogatory,  and  brought  his  magnetized  little  hear- 
ers face  to  face  with  the  solemn  issue  upon  which  hung 
their  destiny.     The  fun  was  forgotten,  the  accessories  of 


334  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

the  occasion  fell  away  from  it,  and  every  soul,  young 
and  old,  wrestled  with  the  crucial  test  that  was  made  so 
solemn  that  none  could  be  unconcerned,  and  so  clear  that 
none  could  evade  it. 

Such  scenes  as  this, were  common  in  his  ministry 
throughout  its  entire  course.  He  never  grew  old  in 
spirit.  It  was  wise  in  him  thus  to  keep  in  sympathy 
with  the  young.  The  reflex  influence  upon  himself  of 
the  young  life  with  which  he  was  thus  brought  into  con- 
tact opened  within  his  own  heart  a  fountain  of  perpet- 
ual youth  whose  waters  fertilized  his  life  and  made  it  all 
abloom  with  the  fadeless  flowers  of  sympathy,  tender- 
ness, and  affection,  whose  roots  are  watered  by  the  river 
that  makes  glad  the  city  of  God. 


HIS  ANTAGONISMS. 


HIS  antagonisms!  Do  the  words  bring  a  jar  now 
that  he  is  dead?  It  can  not  be  helped.  Such  a 
man,  living  in  such  times  as  those  in  which  he  lived,  and 
doing,  the  work  he  did,  must  needs  have  had  many  jars 
in  his  life.  He  was  a  fighter  by  nature.  What  he  did 
not  like  he  must  needs  oppose.  He  would  have  been  a 
crusader  had  he  lived  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Had  he 
lived  a  century  earlier  than  that,  what  he  would  have 
been  God  only  knows — a  monk  burying  himself  alive 
to  keep  out  of  temptation,  or  a  chieftain  of  some  sort 
raiding  his  enemies,  or  hunting  friends  needing  a  cham- 
pion to  fight  for  them.  He  came  upon  the  stage  of 
action  at  a  time  when  the  Church  he  joined  was  in  its 
most  militant  state.  He  was  put  early  in  the  front, 
where  he  had  to  fight  or  flee.  To  the  last  he  was  kept 
there,  and  his  latest  sun  went  down  while  the  battle- 
smoke  was  still  in  the  air. 

It  may  have  been  a  weakness  in  him  that  he  found  it 
difficult  to  separate  the  man  whom  he  antagonized  from 
his  cause.  It  was  Bond  and  Elliott,  opposing  editors, 
who  felt  the  sting  of  his  sarcasms  in  the  turbulent  times 
about  1S44.  No  word  of  disparagement  or  sweeping 
condemnation  of  the  Northern  brethren  as  a  body  is  on 
record  from  him.  In  the  contention  that  took  place 
along  the  border  it  was  Tomlinson's  personal  mistakes 
and  inconsistencies  that  drew  his  hottest  fire,  rather  than 
the  measures  he  supported.     The  argu?nentum  ad  horn- 

(335) 


336  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

ine?n  was  his  strength  and  his  weakness — his  strength, 
in  that  he  wielded  it  with  a  power  that  was  usually  irre- 
sistible; his  weakness,  in  that,  unsuspected  by  himself, 
it  often  left  a  barbed  arrow  in  the  hearts  of  men  whom 
he  sincerely  esteemed.  Men  who  care  but  little  for  be- 
ing overmatched  in  argument  wince  and  writhe  when 
they  are  laughed  at.  Satire  is  as  dangerous  as  it  is  effect- 
ive. It  is  deadly  when  skillfully  directed  against  a  foe, 
but  it  often  wounds  the  hand  that  uses  it.  No  words 
can  describe  the  power  of  McFerrin's  sarcasm.  The 
lightning-like  flash,  the  indescribable  drollery  of  tone 
and  gesture,  the  air  of  easy  triumph  that  proclaimed 
him  victor  even  when  the  facts  and  arguments  had  gone 
against  him,  sent  many  a  discomfited  combatant  from 
the  arena  with  a  grudge  in  his  heart.  They  said  he 
was  unfair  and  ungenerous,  and  watched  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  adjust  accounts  with  him.  But  in  most  cases 
time  did  its  healing  work;  the  victims  of  his  forensic 
excoriation  saw  other  sides  of  his  character;  they  found 
that  the  arrow  tl^at  stung  them  so  keenly  was  not  poi- 
soned with  malice;  and  seeing  others  treated  by  him  in 
like  manner,  they  joined  in  the  general  laugh  and  forgot 
their  own  smartings.  No  man  ever  surpassed  him  in 
general  popularity,  but  here  and  there  in  the  wride  circle 
of  his  movement  were  men — and  good  men  too — who 
could  never  forget  that  they  had  met  him  and  felt  the 
touch  of  the  lion's  paw. 

Several  instances  come  to  mind  at  this  point  in  which 
he  had  long  and  exasperated  personal  controversies  in 
his  latter  days.  The  detail  of  these  conflicts  is  pur- 
posely omitted.  The  man  with  whom  he  had  the  long- 
est and  hardest  wrestlings  passed  before  him  to  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  righteous  Judge  from  whom  no  secrets  are 


HIS  ANTAGONISMS.  337 

hid.  All  the  tangible  questions  between  them  were 
adjudicated  by  the  Church.  There  let  them  rest.  As 
to  what,  if  any  thing,  lay  back  of  them;  as  to  the  un- 
dercurrents, if  any,  that  were  invisible  to  all  but  the 
all-seeing  God;  as  to  the  self-delusion,  if  any,  that 
obscured  moral  perception;  as  to  the  degree  of  alloy  in 
the  motive  that  could  only  be  judged  by  us  from  the 
data  that  were  accessible  to  human  judgment — all  this 
is  left  to  the  adjudication  of  the  pitying  Father  of  us  all 
who  knoweth  our  frame  and  who  remembereth  that  we 
are  dust,  and  to  the  interceding  grace  of  our  great  High- 
priest,  whose  blood  hath  full  atonement  made  for  ouf 
sins,  and  who  is  touched  writh  the  feeling  of  our  infirm-- 
ities.  The  collision  he  had  with  another  man  of  brill- 
iant genius,  who  was  master  of  a  wit  that  was  sparkling, 
and  a  satire  that  burned  like  caustic,  might  perhaps  be 
traceable  in  its  ultimate  causes  to  similarity  of  temper 
on  the  middle  plane  of  their  natures,  and  to  circum- 
stances that  developed  an  antagonism  that  would  have 
melted  away  in  the  glow  of  personal  association  had  they 
been  thrown  together  where  comradeship  would  have 
excluded  rivalry,  and  where  the  angularities  that  thrust 
them  apart  when  they  met  in  the  public  arena  would 
have  been  smoothed  away  in  the  hallowed  association  of 
fellow  -  laborers  who  see  each  other's  tenderei  and 
brighter  side.  Had  this  been  so,  the  Richmond  jour- 
nalist who  tilted  with  Tertullus  might  have  been  the 
writer  of  this  biography,  and  put  into  it  touches  of  color 
that  could  have  been  given  by  no  other  hand.  Two 
other  cases  of  alienation  more  or  less  complete  recur 
to  mind  at  this  point,  one  of  which  was  the  result  of 
temperamental  antipathy,  and  the  other  of  circumstances 
that  gave  him  and  thousands  of  others  infinite  pain. 
22 


338  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Was  he  hard  and  unforgiving?  Not  consciously.  But 
by  virtue  of  his  sagacity,  courage,  and  force  of  will,  he 
was  much  accustomed  to  having  his  own  way ;  and  it  was 
his  misfortune  that  his  pugnacity  outlasted  his  maximum 
of  power.  His  sight  and  hearing  partially  failed,  but 
his  readiness  for  combat  did  not  diminish.  He  kept  a 
sharp  watch  to  the  last  for  innovators  on  Old  Method- 
ism as  he  understood  it,  and  in  the  Board  of  Missions 
he  was  ready  to  break  a  lance  with  anybody  who  crossed 
his  views.  A  smile  would  pass  around  the  Board  when, 
not  hearing  distinctly  what  was  said  or  embraced  in  a 
motion,  he  would  demand  in  his  imperious  tone,  his 
whole  manner  showing  fight:  "  What  was  that?  "  And 
when  he  did  come  in  collision  with  some  notion  or  mo- 
tion that  crossed  his  life-long  prejudices,  he  bore  down 
upon  the  opposing  speaker  with  a  vehemence  that  was 
surprising  to  new  members  and  amusing  to  old  ones. 
Once  he  stalked  in  about  the  middle  of  a  forenoon  ses- 
sion, having  been  detained  with  the  Book  Committee, 
which  was  also  in  session  at  the  time,  and  seeming  to 
think  that  something  must  be  going  wrong  in  his  ab- 
sence, he  planted  himself  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  and 
demanded,  "  What  is  it  you  are  doing?"  in  a  tone  so  de- 
fiant that  there  was  a  general  burst  of  laughter.  A  man 
of  this  sort  will  not  escape  antagonisms.  He  is  born  to 
them;  they  are  involved  in  his  mission  to  the  world; 
they  make  the  brightest  and  the  darkest  pages  in  his 
life-history.  The  trueness  that  was  at  the  core  of  Mc- 
Ferrin's  soul  is  evidenced  by  a  fact  that  should  be  men- 
tioned here.  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  was  thrown 
into  close  contact  with  brother  ministers  of  the  Tennes- 
see Conference,  with  whom  in  former  years  he  had  been 
bi ought  into  sharp  collision.      They  exhibited  Christian 


ir/s  ANTAGONISMS.  339 

politeness  in  their  social  intercourse,  and  that  was  all. 
But  it  came  to  pass  that  issues  arose  involving  vital  prin- 
ciples and  great  Church  interests;  and  at  once  these  men, 
recognizing  each  other  fully  for  the  first  time,  drew  close 
to  one  another  in  a  fellowship  that  grew  stronger  and 
stronger  to  the  last.  As  in  musical  composition  there 
are  minor  discords  that  lead  to  a  grand  burst  of  harmony, 
so  it  happens  that  the  petty  irritations  and  antipathies  of 
good  men  lead  to  delightful  surprises  when,  lifted  to  the 
highest  plane  of  their  being  in  such  crises,  they  find  that 
at  that  altitude  they  are  pitched  on  the  same  key.  In 
the  exaltation  that  awaits  all  true  disciples  of  Christ  at 
the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  will  not  this  be  the 
secret  of  their  perfect  and  unending  concord  ?  "  Mc- 
Ferrin  "was  never  a  friend  of  mine,"  said  a  high-souled, 
generous  man,  who  thought  he  had  cause  of  complaint 
against  him;  "but  he  was  a  true  man;  he  was  a  good 
man."  That  is  the  verdict  of  the  vast  multitude  of  per- 
sons who  knew  him.  The  names  of  those  that  dissent 
could  be  counted  on  the  fingers  of  the  hand  that  writes 
this  sentence.  A  good  man  he  was;  a  perfect  man  he 
was  not.  That  title  belongs  only  to  Him  whom  he  fol- 
lowed in  singleness  of  purpose  during  a  ministry  of  more 
than  sixty  years  seldom  equaled  in  the  abundance  of  its 
labors  and  in  the  fruits  that  were  visible  even  before  the 
fearless  heart  ceased  to  beat  and  the  busy  hands  were 
folded  to  rest. 


WITH  THE  BOYS  IN  GRAY. 


DR.  McFERRIN  always  kindled  at  any  reference 
to  his  experience  as  a  missionary  in  the  army.  The 
soldiers  who  met  and  heard  him  in  camp  and  on  the  field 
kindled  at  the  mention  of  his  name.  The  boys  in  gray 
had  a  warm  place  in  their  hearts  for  him  to  the  last. 
The  tie  that  binds  fellow-soldiers  is  strong  and  enduring 
in  proportion  to  the  dangers  and  hardships  they  have 
encountered  together.  The  survivors  even  of  a  wreck 
at  sea  or  a  railroad  disaster  feel  that,  having  come  so 
close  to  death  together,  there  is  a  secret  bond  of  sympa- 
thy between  them  ever  after.  He  who  is  unmoved  by 
such  a  feeling  is  not  a  man,  but  a  clod.  The  boys  in 
blue,  who  were  the  victors  in  our  Civil  War,  have  per- 
petuated their  organization  in  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  and  maintained  its  esprit  de  corps  by  annual 
reunions,  oratory,  song,  and  martial  parades.  Member- 
shij)  in  the  organization  is  considered  almost  equal  to  a 
patent  of  nobility  by  the  men  who  bore  the  banners 
of  the  Union,  and  who  were  on  the  winning  side  in 
that  tremendous  conflict  whose  echoes  grow  fainter  and 
fainter  as  the  years  bear  the  nation  on  its  way  to  what- 
ever is  in  store  for  it  in  the  future.  If  such  is  the  senti- 
ment of  the  victors,  what  must  be  that  of  the  vanquished, 
with  whom  all  the  thrilling  memories  of  the  struggle 
are  associated  with  the  ineffable  pathos  of  defeat?  To 
the  worn  warriors  of  Lee  Appomattox  was  a  sacrament 
of  sorrow,  and  all  the  true  men  who  came  out  of 
the  fiery  furnace  of  the  war  alive  feel  for  one  an- 
(340) 


WITH  THE  B02'S  IN  GRAT.  341 

other  a  fraternal  regard  that  has  manifested  itself  on  all 
possible  occasions.  A  mere  civilian  has  had  but  a  small 
chance  of  success  against  a  soldier  who  limped  around 
on  a  lame  leg  or  displayed  an  empty  sleeve  on  the  hust- 
ings. The  men  who  led  the  Confederate  armies  during 
the  war  led  the  reconstructed  States  afterward.  The 
manhood  that  proved  itself  in  battle  and  on  the  march 
asserted  itself  in  the  untried  and  difficult  conditions  of 
that  period  during  which  the  recuperative  energies  of 
the  Southern  people  were  so  severely  tested  and  so 
grandly  demonstrated. 

The  preachers  of  the  South,  like  those  of  the  North, 
took  the  field  at  the  start,  and  kept  it  to  the  end  of  the 
war.  Not  a  few  of  them  on  either  side  took  up  carnal 
weapons  and  pressed  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight. 
There  were  among  them  those  who  discharged  a  double 
function,  acting  as  chaplain  and  colonel  of  a  regiment 
or  captain  of  a  company  at  the  same  time.  Some  of 
these  were  rare  spirits,  who  prayed  with  fervor  and 
fought  with  distinguished  valor,  while  there  were  many 
sad  examples  to  warn  us  that  it  is  a  dangerous  thing  for 
a  man  who  has  been  called  of  God  to  save  men  by  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  take  up  arms  to  kill  men. 

Dr.  McFerrin's  own  notes  have  already  told  us  how 
he  left  Nashville  and  got  into  the  army,  and  given  us  a 
running  account  of  his  army  life.  Ten  thousand  living 
men  could  bear  witness  to  the  faithfulness  and  remark- 
able success  of  his  work  as  a  missionary  to  the  soldiers. 
Among  his  papers  was  a  faded,  ragged  sheet,  which  he 
had  preserved  with  scrupulous  care  during  all  the  event- 
ful times  from  the  day  of  its  date  to  the  day  of  his  death. 
It  was  his  commission  as  an  "  acting  chaplain,"  and  is  in 
these  words: 


342  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


Head-quarters  Army  of  Tennessee,  May  15,  1863. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  John  B.  McFerrin,  Methodist  Church,  an  Acting 
Chaplain  C.  S.  A.,  is  recognized  in  that  capacity,  and  will  be  en- 
titled to  all  the  privileges  and  advantages  of  that  position. 

Braxton  Bragg,  General  Commanding ; 
J.  E.  Johnston,    General. 

Privileges  and  advantages!  That  sounds  almost  like 
a  jest  from  the  grim  and  exact  Gen.  Bragg,  who  never 
wasted  words  with  tongue  or  pen.  The  privileges  of  a 
chaplain  were  to  draw  rations  when  there  were  any  to 
be  drawn,  to  preach  to  the  soldiers,  to.  march  and  sleep 
with  them,  to  nurse  the  sick  and  pray  with  the  dying, 
on  the  field  or  in  the  hospitals,  to  bury  the  dead,  and,  if 
he  felt  so  disposed,  to  take  a  hand  in  the  fighting.  The 
advantages!  What  were  they?  Only  a  surviving  chap- 
lain himself  could  tell.  The  signature  of  Gen.  "Joe" 
Johnston  in  different  ink  was  in  the  nature  of  a  renewal 
of  the  commission,  which  took  place  after  the  bloody 
but  brilliant  victory  at  Chickamauga  and  the  disaster  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  where  the  lucky  Grant  found  the  un- 
lucky Bragg.  "  Gen.  Bragg  was  a  fine  soldier,"  said 
McFerrin — "  a  soldier  who  did  the  best  fighting  and 
reaped  the  least  advantage  from  it  in  proportion  of  any 
officer  we  had.  Yes,  he  was  a  fine  soldier,  and  I  re- 
spected him  highly;  but  he  was  not  a  lucky  man."  For 
Gen.  Johnston  he  had  the  highest  admiration  as  a  mili- 
tary genius.  Of  Hood,  the  heroic  and  ill-starred  victim 
of  invincible  disabilities,  upon  whose  devoted  head  was 
visited  the  blame  for  disasters  which  the  most  desperate 
valor  strove  in  vain  to  avert,  he  always  spoke  with  re- 
spect and  generous  kindness. 

Dr.  McFerrin  was  respected  by  the  officers  and  loved 
by  the  men  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  The  magnet- 
ism of  his  presence  made  a  stir  in  the  camp  at  his  com- 


WITH  THE  BOTS  IN  GRAY.  343 

ing,  and  he  left  it  in  a  glow  when  he  went  away.  The 
strange  power  that  always  attended  his  preaching  was 
felt  wherever  he  spoke  to  the  soldiers.  They  wept  and 
prayed,  and  pledged  themselves  to  Christian  living. 

The  Rev.  S.  M.  Cherry,  of  the  Tennessee  Confer- 
ence, a  worthy  fellow-laborer,  a  participant  and  eye- 
witness, gives  a  graphic  sketch  of  Dr.  McFerrin's  army 
experience : 

REV.  S.  M.  CHERRY'S  SKETCH. 

Dr.  McFerrin  -was  with  the  Army  of  Tennessee  much  of  the 
time  from  January,  1863,  to  April  23,  1S65.  After  the  battle  of 
Murfreesboro,  or  Stone's  River,  Ave  met  for  the  first  time  in  the 
army  (January  7,  1S63),  at  Shelbyville,  Tennessee.  I  had  been 
with  Gens.  Zollicoffer,  J.  E.  Rains,  and  E.  Kirby  Smith  in  East 
Tennessee  and  Eastern  Kentucky,  in  1S61-2,  and  had  not  seen  the 
Doctor  for  more  than  a  year,  perhaps  not  since  the  Conference  of 
1 861.  I  was  truly  glad  to  meet  him  and  so  many  of  our  preach- 
ers of  the  Tennessee  Conference  after  so  long  a  separation.  Three 
days  after  he  sold  me  the  finest  little  mare  I  ever  owned.  The 
next  day,  I  note  from  my  Journal,  I  "  attended  class-meeting  for 
the  first  time  during  the  eighteen  months  of  camp  life,"  and  among 
those  named  as  present  was  James  McFerrin,  the  elder  son  of  the 
Doctor,  whom  I  often  saw  in  the  army  as  a  faithful  soldier. 

On  Sunday,  March  22,  Gen.  Robert  Vance,  a  devout  member  of 
our  Church,  went  with  me  to  hear  Dr.  McFerrin  preach.  His  theme 
was  "  The  Evidences  of  Christ's  Divinity."  The  congregation  was 
large,  many  officers  attending  the  service,  and  the  sermon  was 
strong,  scriptural,  and  full  of  life  and  power.  In  the  afternoon  he 
rode  with  me  over  to  Bate's  Brigade,  and  preached  for  us  from 
Isa.  lv.  6,  7 — "  Seek  the  Lord  while  he  may  be  found,"  etc. — a 
most  suitable  sermon  for  the  soldiers.  After  the  service  in  camp 
we  went  together  to  the  home  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  S.  Moody, 
near  Shelbyville,  and  spent  the  night.  Brother  Moody  was  slowly, 
yet  surely,  going  from  his  model  family  and  beloved  brethren  to 
the  grave.  He  was  one  of  the  sweetest  spirits  in  our  Conference, 
and  was  greatly  honored  and  much  loved  by  his  brethren.  He 
was  ray  first  and  highly  esteemed  presiding  elder.  Dr.  McFerrin 
was  with  him   much  the  last  few  weeks  he  lingered  among  us. 


344  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

He  died  in  great  peace  May  6,  and  his  funeral  sermon  was 
preached  by  his  friend  of  many  years,  Dr.  McFerrin. 

While  our  army  was  encamped  around  Shelby  ville,  in  1863,  the 
first  meetings  of  our  "  Chaplains'  Association  "  were  held.  Dr. 
McFerrin  and  other  army  missionaries  attended,  and  of  course  he 
was  always  ready  to  speak  a  word  in  season.  Dr.  J.  II.  McNeilly, 
pastor  of  Moore  Memorial  Presbyterian  Church,  Nashville,  one 
of  our  most  efficient  army  chaplains,  remembers  distinctly  a  young 
chaplain's  first  contact  with  Dr.  McFerrin  in  discussion.  The 
zealous,  sprightly  young  brother  mistook  some  remark  of  the 
Doctor  as  a  reflection  on  his  denomination.  In  reply,  he  was 
sharp,  severe,  and  scathing.  The  Doctor  eyed  the  brother  com- 
placently, yet  his  look  was  quizzical.  When  the  young  man  sat 
down  the  Doctor  arose,  and  assured  him  kindly  that  no  such  re- 
flection was  intended.  But  the  irate  brother  was  not  satisfied,  and 
seemed  to  think  that  he  had  the  better  of  his  senior,  and  wanted 
to  follow  up  the  advantage  gained  by  a  decided  discomfiture  of 
the  Doctor,  whom  he  evidently  thought  rather  demoralized  by 
his  first  assault.  lie  did  not  accept  the  statement  as  satisfactory, 
as  others  seemed  to  do,  but  renewed  his  attack  with  great  vigor. 
Those  who  knew  the  Doctor's  great  ability  in  discussion  were 
well  prepared  to  enjoy  the  sequel.  The  fiery  young  chaplain  was 
scarcely  seated  before  the  Doctor  was  standing  squarely  and  sol- 
idly before  him,  and  with  searching  gaze  looked  him  full  in  the 
face  and  said:  "My  young  brother,  we  have  too  big  a  fight  on 
hand  just  now  for  any  such  foolishness  as  denominational  distinc- 
tions and  differences.  But  if  you  want  to  fight  on  such  a  line  as 
this,  just  wait  till  we  Avin  in  the  fight  now  on  hand,  and  Ave  all  unite 
in  the  army  and  at  home  and  Avhip  out  the  devil  and  his  hosts; 
and  then  if  you  Avish  to  attack  me  on  the  line  you  indicate,  I  am 
at  your  service,  and  will  just  lay  you  across  my  lap  and  spank  you 
goocV  The  good  humor  of  the  Doctor  and  the  Association's 
approval  Avas  so  hearty  that  the  young  chaplain  Avas  more  than 
Avilling  to  subside. 

Dr.  McFerrin's  great  poAver  in  the  army  was  manifested  dur- 
ing the  remarkable  religious  revival  which  began  in  the  Army  of 
Tennessee  in  Middle  Tennessee  late  in  1862,  and  continued  until 
the  close  of  the  Avar  in  1S65  in  North  Carolina.  The  first  bud- 
dings of  this  gracious  awakening  Ave  Avitnessed  in  our  brigade  at  a 
protracted  meeting  conducted  by  Chaplains  Allen  Tribble,  J.  G. 


WITH  THE  BOYS  IN  GRA1\  345 

Bolton,  E.  C.  Wexler,  Capt.  Brady  of  the  Thirty-ninth  Georgia 
Regiment,  and  myself,  at  Normandy  and  Manchester,  Tennessee, 
late  in  November  and  early  in  December,  1862.  The  revival  kin- 
dled into  a  still  brighter  name  around  Shelbyville  and  Fairfield 
:n  the  spring  and  early  summer  of  1803;  but  its  full  power  was 
not  realized  till  we  were  encamped  around  Dalton,  Georgia,  in  1864. 

At  Brown's  Brigade,  on  the  12th  of  June,  1S63,  while  in  camp 
near  Fairfield,  1  heard  Dr.  McFerrin  preach  to  a  very  large  and 
attentive  congregation  of  serious  soldiers,  on  "Repentance."  At 
the  close  of  his  sermon  he  called  for  penitents,  and  eighteen  came 
forward  for  prayer.  Three  nights  later  I  preached  to  the  same 
brigade,  and  witnessed  three  conversions.  Chaplains  John  A. 
Ellis,  A.W.  Smith,  T.  II.  Deavenport,  J.  W.  Johnson,  of  the  Ten- 
nessee Conference,  and  the  Rev .  Mr.  Chapman  (Presbyterian) 
were  active  laborers  in  this  and  othei  meetings  during  the  revival. 

The  attack  at  Hoover's  Gap,  on  St.  John's  Day,  June  24th,  while 
some  of  the  soldiers  and  citizens  were  attending  a  Masonic  cele- 
bration at  Bellbuckle,  resulted  in  serious  loss  to  Bate's  Brigade, 
and  some  casualties  in  Brown's,  and  broke  up  our  protracted 
meeting  there,  which  gave  promise  of  gracious  results ;  but  we  re- 
newed the  meeting  a  few  weeks  later  at  Tyner's  Station,  near 
Chattanooga,  where  we  continued  with  increasing  interest  till  the 
coming  of  the  terrible  conflict  on  the  tortuous  Chickamauga. 
Then,  at  the  base  of  Missionary  Ridge,  the  revival  flame  was  kin- 
dled again,  and  many  soldiers  there  declared  their  purpose  to  lead 
new  lives  who  soon  laid  down  their  lives  in  battle  on  the  slopes 
of  the  same  Missionary  Ridge  late  in  the  bleak  November. 

Dr.  McFerrin  was  very  faithful  and  devoted  in  looking  after 
the  wounded,  I  remember,  at  the  ghastly  and  gory  field  hospitals 
of  Chickamauga,  September  19  to  22,  1S63.  His  nephew,  th* 
Rev.  John  P.  McFerrin,  who  had  recently  been  licensed  to  preach, 
was  very  seriously  wounded  in  that  battle,  and  was  disabled  for  a 
long  while. 

The  Doctor  showed  his  spirit  of  firmness  and  decision  in  a  way 
that  was  very  pleasant,  to  one  man  at  least,  Avhile  we  were  at  the 
base  of  Missionary  Ridge,  fronting  Rosecrans's  army  in  Chat- 
tanooga, just  before  the  battle  at  the  former  place.  The  Soldiers' 
Tract  Association  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  es- 
tablished a  South-west  Department  at  Macon,  Georgia,  to  supply 
the  soldiers  of  the  Southern  and  Western  armies  with  religious 


346  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

reading,  and  began  the  publication  of  The  Army  and  Navy  Her- 
ald in  October,  1863,  with  the  Rev.  R.  J.  Harp,  of  Louisiana,  as 
Superintendent;  Rev.  William  F.  Camp,  General  Collecting 
Agent;  and  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Burke,  Treasurer.  Dr.  Camp  came 
to  our  army  in  order  to  get  Gen.  Bragg  to  appoint  a  distributing 
agent  for  the  Army  of  Tennessee,  who  should  remain  with  the 
army  and  receive  all  Bibles,  Testaments,  hymn-books,  tracts,  pa- 
pers, and  other  material  furnished  by  the  Association,  and  distrib- 
ute the  same  to  the  chaplains,  missionaries,  and  others,  who  would 
furnish  their  commands  with  such  religious  reading.  Gen.  Bragg 
was  willing  to  appoint  the  man  if  Dr.  Camp  would  find  one  suit- 
able and  properly  recommended.  Dr.  McFerrin's  experience  in 
the  army  and  all  over  the  South,  and  his  knowledge  of  men  and 
affairs,  suggested  him  to  Dr.  Camp  as  the  man  to  aid  him  best  in 
the  selection  of  the  distributing  agent.  The  Doctor  said:  "Yes,  I 
know  the  man  you  need;  come  with  me."  They  went  at  once  to 
Bate's  Brigade,  and  asked  for  a  chaplain  who  entered  the  army  in 
1861  and  was  now  serving  in  that  capacity  his  third  year.  When 
he  came  out  of  his  tent,  clad  in  common  gray,  looking  much  like 
an  ordinary  soldier  who  had  been  on  the  dusty  march  and  rough- 
ing it  generally  during  the  heavy  campaign  of  the  summer,  every 
expression  of  the  well-dressed  Doctor  from  the  rear  seemed  to  sav: 
"Why,  Dr.  McFerrin,  is  that  your  man?  He  will  not  do  at  all." 
Col.  R.  and  Gen.  Bate  both  objected  to  the  appointment,  the  latter 
firmly  yet  kindly  saying,  "  We  need  him  in  the  field."  But  the 
decision  of  Dr.  McFerrin,  who  intimated  that  he  had  no  change 
to  make  in  his  selection,  was  potent  enough  to  prevail  with  Gen. 
Bragg,  and  Dr.  C.  and  Gen.  B.  and  Col.  R.  yielded  to  the  inevita- 
ble. Result:  this  writer  was  distributing  agent  of  religious  read- 
ing for  the  Army  of  Tennessee  from  November,  1863,  to  April, 
1865.  All  of  that  time  I  had  very  favorable  opportunities  of  seeing 
and  hearing  much  of  Dr.  McFerrin  while  he  labored  so  faithfully 
and  successfully  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  our  soldiers. 

While  I  saw  much  of  Missionaries  William  Burr,  W.  Mooney, 
R.  P.  Ransom,  and  C.  W.  Miller,  and  heai-d  them  and  the  Rev. 
C.  C.  Mayhew  preach  often  in  and  around  Dalton,  and  .knew  well 
their  zeal  and  devotion  "in  labors  more  abundant,"  and  was  also 
a  witness  to  the  fidelity  and  heroism  of  chaplains  too  numerous 
to  name,  yet  I  saw  and  heard  more  of  Dr.  McFerrin  in  the  great 
revival  around  Dalton  than  of  any  other  minister  of  the  gospel. 


WITH  THE  BOYS  IN  GRA1'.  Ml 

Four  times  in  one  week  I  heard  him  preach — December  22  to  De- 
cember 28,  1863.  His  texts  were  very  appropriate  to  the  place 
time,  and  occasion.  The  first  sermon  I  heard  him  preach  there 
and  then  was  from  the  text,  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
his  righteousness."  The  next  night  he  preached  from  the  text, 
"Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest."  He  so  preached  the  need  of  seeking  the  king- 
dom of  God  first  in  point  of  importance  as  well  as  first  in  time  (I 
note  from  my  Journal)  that  quite  a  number  of  soldiers  came  for- 
ward to  seek  salvation.  The  second  sermon  so  directed  those 
desiring  salvation  to  come  to  Jesus  that  they  came  in  confidence, 
and  confessed  his  power  to  save  from  sin  and  to  give  rest  to  their 
burdened  souls. 

Nowhere  else  in  life  have  I  ever  witnessed  so  wonderful  a  re- 
vival as  that  at  Dalton  from  December,  1863,  to  May,  1864.  At 
no  other  time  or  place  did  I  ever  hear  Dr.  McFerrin  preach  with 
such  power  and  success  as  to  our  soldiers  in  camp.  He  came  to 
them  with  a  heart  full  of  sympathy,  and  showed  them  by  every 
token  that  he  was  one  of  them,  ready  to  eat  and  sleep  with  them, 
and  in  every  way  to  "  endure  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  His  plain,  matter-of-fact  way  of  speaking  to 
the  soldiers  was  remarkably  adapted  to  win  their  confidence,  and 
he  so  preached  Christ  that  he  won  the  soldiers  to  faith  in  the  great 
Captain  of  our  salvation.  Several  thousand  soldiers  were  pub- 
licly seeking  religion  around  our  rude  camp  altars  near  Dalton, 
in  the  spring  of  1864.  I  suppose  a  thousand  made  profession  of 
saving  faith  in  Christ  in  the  month  of  April  alone.  Dr.  McFer- 
rin was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  did  the  work  of  an 
evangelist,  and  made  full  proof  of  his  ministry  to  the  soldiers.  I 
doubt  not  that  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  of  soldiers  dated  their  con- 
viction and  conversion  to  the  ministry  of  Dr.  John  B.  McFerrin 
in  the  army. 

While  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  Cumberland  Presbyterians,  and 
Methodists  looked  to  Dr.  McFerrin  as  a  leader  in  the  great  re- 
vival and  other  ministerial  work  in  the  army,  yet,  if  there  was 
other  delicate  and  difficult  work  to  do,  such  as  all  would  shrink 
from  undertaking,  Dr.  McFerrin  was  selected  for  that  duty.  As 
an  illustration :  Chaplains  were  scarce  in  some  of  the  commands — 
notably  some  from  Arkansas  and  other  Western  States.  Such 
needed  attention  from  missionaries  especially.     An  earnest  effort 


348  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

was  made  to  f  urnish  all  such  commands  with  chaplains.  Like  all 
other  well-meant  measures,  there  was  danger  of  overdoing  the 
work.  Bishop  Paine,  if  I  mistake  not,  ordained  or  appointed  a  man 
calling  himself  Casteel,  or  Castile,  and  he  was  rightly  named,  for 
he  was  hard  and  slippery;  but  he  was  assigned  to  duty  in  an  Ar- 
kansas regiment.  Conscription  was  the  order  of  the  day,  and 
Casteel  wanted  an  easy  place,  and  he  thought  the  chaplaincy  the 
nicest  for  him  in  the  army.  But  he  had  scarcely  settled  down  in 
the  army  at  Dalton  before  ugly  rumors  reached  us  of  his  charac- 
ter and  conduct  at  Rome,  Georgia.  The  chaplains  were  zealous 
to  protect  the  reputation  of  their  body  from  reproach.  A  consul- 
tation was  held,  and  the  result  was  that  Dr.  McFerrin  was  ap- 
pointed a  committee  of  one  to  see  the  new  chaplain  and  to  notify 
him  of  the  reports  from  Rome.  The  Doctor  did  not  shirk  the 
delicate  task,  but  frankly  told  him  that  it  had  been  whispered  to 
some  of  the  preachers  that  he  had  stolen  some  hundreds  of  dol- 
lars on  his  way  from  Aberdeen  to  the  army  at  Rome.  Casteel 
candidly  confessed  that  he  took  the  money,  but  begged  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin not  to  mention  it,  for  fear  it  might  reach  his  regiment  and 
"  injure  his  influence  ivith  the  boys?  The  Doctor  made  no  prom- 
ise of  secrecy,  not  even  to  save  his  influence^  but  returned  and 
made  his  report.  Casteel  was  full  of  expedients.  He  at  once 
made  out  for  himself  a  "  leave  of  absence,"  and  an  order  for  "free 
transportation  "  to  the  rear.  When  presented  to  Major  John  S. 
Bransford,  Chief  of  Transportation,  the  Major — who  now  lives  in 
Nashville,  as  he  did  before  the  war — detected  that  the  signatures 
were  not  genuine,  and  ordered  the  chaplain's  arrest.  The  fellow 
was  sent  to  the  guard-house,  where  he  feigned  sickness,  and  was 
sent  to  the  hospital,  and  thence  made  his  escape.  I  have  never 
heard  any  thing  more  of  Casteel,  save  that  he  stole  a  watch  from 

Dr.  G ,  of  Aberdeen,  Mississippi,  while  sharing  his  hospitality, 

just  before  Bishop  Paine  sent  him  to  the  army.  But  Dr.  McFer- 
rin heard  much  of  him,  and  of  "injuring  his  influence"  from  us 
during  the  last  year  of  the  war.  During  the  entire  four  years  of 
my  army  life  I  never  met  but  the  one  impostor  among  the  preach- 
ers in  the  army. 

Your  readers  will  learn  from  another  source,  I  doubt  not,  that 
Dr.  McFerrin  was  with  the  Army  of  Tennessee,  and  preached  to 
the  soldiers  an  appropriate  discourse  the  Sunday  of  the  surren- 
der of  that  army  at  Greensboro,  North   Carolina,  April  23,  1S65. 


WITH  THE  BOTS  IN  CRAY.  349 

Being  with  the  division  of  Gen.  Dibrell,  which  aeted  as  escort 
for  Jefferson  Davis  and  Cabinet  from  Greensboro  to  Charlotte, 
before  the  surrender,  I  did  not  hear  the  Doctor,  but  preached  the 
same  day  for  Ferguson's  Brigade  at  Rock  Hill,  South  Carolina, 
and  again  at  night,  and  assisted  Chaplains  Monk  and  McCheaver 
in  the  administration  of  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's-supper  to  the 
soldiers  after  the  surrender. 

After  the  army  left  Middle  Tennessee  in  December,  1S64,  we 
returned,  via  North  Alabama,  to  Corinth,  Mississippi;  thence  by 
railroad  and  steam-boat  to  Meridian,  Selma,  Montgomery,  Colum- 
bus, and  Macon,  to  Augusta;  thence  we  marched  across  South 
Carolina,  and  took  the  train  again  to  reach  Smithfield,  North  Car- 
olina, where  our  troops  were  engaged  for  the  last  time  in  April. 
There,  in  the  old  North  State,  I  saw  Dr.  McFerrin,  and  heard 
him  preach  twice  on  the  first  Sunday  in  April  at  the  Methodist 
Church  in  Charlotte  for  the  pastor,  Brother  Stacey ;  and  we  slept 
together  that  night  for  the  last  time.  In  the  morning  his  theme 
was  "  Growth  in  Grace;"  at  night,  "  Heaven,"  from  Rev.  vii.  13- 
17.  We  were  then  in  the  "great  tribulation"  of  which  he  dis- 
coursed. Who  that  knew  Dr.  McFerrin  well  doubts  that  he  is 
now  with  those  "  who  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  are  before  the  throne  of  God, 
and  serve  him  day  and  night  in  his  temple?  " 

Another  minister,  whose  graphic  pen  has  delighted 
thousands,  old  and  young — the  Rev.  R.  G.  Porter,  of 
the  North  Mississippi  Conference — gives  us  this  account: 

.  REV.  R.  G.  PORTER'S  ACCOUNT. 
The  first  I  saw  of  him  in  this  capacity  was  at  Dalton,  Georgia, 
the  winter  before  the  memorable  Georgia  campaign.  At  the  time 
he  came  to  us  there  was  a  deep  and  most  wonderful  revival  of 
religion  sweeping  all  over  that  army.  Thousands  of  men  were 
happily  converted.  I  have  never  witnessed  a  deeper  or  more  won- 
derful work  of  grace  in  my  life.  The  brigade  to  which  I  belonged, 
and  of  which  I  was  chaplain,  was  doing  outpost  duty  on  the  Cleve- 
land road  that  winter.  For  this  reason  I  was  not  much  with  Dr. 
McFerrin,  though  he  came  out  frequently  and  preached  to  my 
command.  His  coming  and  his  preaching  were  always  hailed  with 
joy.     His  style  and  manner  were  admirably  adapted  to  that  kind 


350  JOHN  B.  McFERRIX. 

of  life  and  to  the  work  going  on.  He  had  a  way  of  walking  right 
inside  of  a  soldier's  heart  and  taking  possession  at  once.  There 
was  nothing  stiff  or  formal  in  either  the  style  or  manner  of  Dr. 
McFerrin,  in  the  pulpit  or  out  of  it.  He  was>a  man  of  the  peo- 
ple— "  one  of  the  boys,"  as  the  soldiers  put  it.  A  fancy  chaplain 
or  a  "  stuck  up  "  missionary  was  an  abomination  to  the  average 
soldier.  Dr.  McFerrin  went  round  among  the  men  like  a  father 
among  his  sons,  or  rather  like  a  brother  among  his  brothers.  His 
quick  wit  and  sharp  repartee  attracted  the  men  to  him,  and  made 
him  the  center  of  attraction  wherever  he  went.  Dr.  McFerrin's 
wit  was  the  quickest  and  his  repartee  the  sharpest,  but  there  was 
no  acid  in  it.  This  was  his  way  of  showing  his  friendship,  his  love 
for  men.  He  could  be  funny  and  pathetic  by  turns  more  easily 
and  naturally  than  any  other  man  I  ever  knew.  This  trait  came 
out  fully  in  camp  life.  It  was  beautiful  to  see  how  happy  the  sol- 
diers were  in  his  society.  If  they  were  eating,  he  would  walk  up 
and  "pitch  in,"  as  the  men  phrased  it,  as  if  he  had  been  brought 
up  in  camp  on  soldiers'  fare — often  only  "  hard  tack  "  and  water. 

The  Doctor  was  a  hardy  and  a  hearty  man.  He  could  recline 
on  a  blanket,  support  his  head  on  one  hand,  and  converse  with 
the  "bovs"  as  any  other  soldier  would  do.  He  got  close  to  the 
men,  and  did  not  compromise  his  character  as  a  Christian  minis- 
ter, either  in  the  fact  or  manner  of  his  approach. 

Dr.  McFerrin's  plain,  simple,  earnest,  strong  preaching  was  ad- 
mirably suited  to  those  times.  The  soldiers,  away  from  home 
and  exposed  to  hardship  and  imminent  danger,  wanted  pure  gos- 
pel preaching.  The  great  mass  of  them  had  no  patience  whatever 
with  what  thev  called  blatlicrskite,  or  buncombe.  This  kind  of  sol- 
emn trifling  was  an  abomination  to  them.  Dr.  McFerrin  spoke  to 
the  soldiers  in  their  own  tongue.  He  understood,  and  knew  how 
to  use  to  the  best  effect,  camp  phrases  and  army  terms.  Some  of 
them  took  on  new  meanings  as  he  used  them.  The  language  of 
the  camp  became  the  vehicle  to  convey  religious  thought. 

An  Alabama  Captain,  somewhat  advanced  in  years,  was  a 
great  admirer  of  Dr.  McFerrin.  They  had  known  each  other  in 
North  Alabama  long  before  the  war.  When  it  was  known  that 
Dr.  McFerrin  was  going  to  preach,  this  Captain  took  the  rounds 
and  bragged  on  "John,"  as  he  called  him,  and  drummed  up  an 
immense  concourse  to  hear  him.  The  Captain  was  not  religious. 
The  old  Doctor  was  at  his  best  that  day.     The  tide  of  emotion 


WITH  THE  BOYS  IN  GRAY.  351 

ran  high;  wave  after  wave  of  feeling  had  swept  over  the  thou- 
sands of  men  present,  and  still  the  waves  were  coming.  The 
Captain  lost  control  of  himself,  forgot  where  he  was,  sprung  to 
his  feet,  clapped  his  hands,  and  shouted:  "  Go  it,  John!  you'll  get 
ever\r  one  of  'em!"  This  burst  of  enthusiasm  increased  the  ex- 
citement. That  was  a  mighty  day  in  our  camp.  The  slain  of 
the  Lord  were  many.  The  Alabama  Captain  was  among  the 
converts.  O  what  a  mighty  commoner  John  B.  McFerrin  was! 
"  The  common  people  heard  him,"  as  they  heard  our  blessed 
Lord,  "gladly." 

Another  occasion  will  never  be  forgotten  by  hundreds  of  men. 
It  was  in  the  Public  Square  in  Marietta,  Georgia,  while  we  were 
righting  on  the  Kennesaw  line.  It  was  a  moonlight  night.  We 
had  no -light  but  that  of  the  moon.  The  men  were  seated  and 
thickly  packed  on  the  greensward  in  the  court-yard.  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin preached.  His  subject  was  "The  Characteristics  of  Job's 
Faith."  The  text:  "The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken 
away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord."  His  divisions  were :  (i) 
Job  believed  God  to  be  the  giver  of  all  good — the  Lord  gave ;  (2) 
Job  believed  God  to  be  the  disposer  of  human  events — the  Lord 
hath  taken  away ;  and  (3)  this  faith  led  Job  to  bless  God  under 
adverse  as  Avell  as  prosperous  circumstances — blessed  be  the  name 
of  the  Lord.  That  was  a  mighty  sermon — not  mighty  in  word, 
nor  mighty  in  thought,  but  mighty  in  the  presence  and  power  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  It  fell  like  rain  on  the  dry  and  parched  ground. 
The  men,  weary  and  worn  with  constant  marching  and  fighting, 
went  away  refreshed  as  from  a  well-spring  of  joy.  The  very  air 
that  night  seemed  electric  with  the  presence  of  God. 

The  foregoing  was  written  by  Mr.  Porter  in  18S7, 
and  he  added  the  words:  "Ere  this  the  grand  old  man 
has  met  in  the  other  world  a  great  number  of  dead 
Confederates  who  greet  him  on  the  plains  of  glory, 
and  call  him  'my  brother.'  They  were  won  to  Christ 
by  the  message  of  life  and  love  that  fell  from  his  lips." 

The  Rev.  Warner  Moore,  of  the  Memphis  Confer- 
ence— one  of  the  soldiers  converted  under  Dr.  McFer- 
rin's  ministry,  and  whom  he  mentions  in  his  notes — fur- 


352  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

nishes  these  touching  recollections  of  his  spiritual  father 
in  the  army: 

REV.   WARNER  MOORE'S  RECOLLECTIONS. 

My  first  knowledge  of  Dr.  McFerrin  in  the  army  was  in  the 
winter  of  1862-3.  My  brigade  (Stewart's)  was  on  outpost  duty  at 
Guy's  Gap,  between  Shelbyville  and  Murfreesboro.  Dr.  McFer- 
rin would  occasionally  come  out  and  preach  to  us. 

In  the  spring  of  1863  the  boys  built  a  large  brush  arbor  in  a  field 
belonging  to  Dr.  Hughes,  and  there  the  Doctor  held  the  first  of 
those  wonderful  meetings  which  were  so  blessed  of  God  in  the 
salvation  of  precious  souls.  His  sermons  during  the  winter  had 
aroused  the  professed  Christians  among  the  soldiers  to  a  sense  of 
their  obligation  to  labor  for  the  conversion  of  their  wicked  com- 
rades. When  the  protracted  effort  began  he  gathered  this  ele- 
ment about  him,  and  used  them  just  as  we  use  the  Church  in  a 
revival  to-day.  He  made  no  distinction  as  to  denominations.  He 
was  not  a  Methodist  then  in  any  sectarian  sense.  He  was  a  min- 
ister of  Jesus  Christ,  and  these  were  his  fellow-servants,  and  he 
called  them  to  be  co-workers  with  him  in  the  work  of  the  Master. 

Day  after  day  he  preached  to  the  masses  of  eager,  anxious  sol- 
diers, and  night  after  night  there  were  heard  the  songs  and  pra}rers 
of  awakened  Christians  and  the  shouts  of  those  who  had  found 
the  Saviour  precious  to  their  believing  hearts.  Between  the  serv- 
ices the  Doctor  could  be  seen  riding  from  regiment  to  regiment,  or 
sitting  with  groups  of  the  men,  talking  in  his  cheerful  and  happy 
way  on  any  subject  that  was  brought  forward,  but  always  coming 
back  to  the  important  question  of  personal  salvation. 

If  there  was  a  sick  soldier  in  a  tent,  the  man  of  God  would  find 
him,  and  there  would  be  such  comfort  brought  to  the  body  as  he 
coidd  provide  or  persuade  others  to  provide,  and  there  wovdd  be 
a  song,  a  prayer,  and  either  rejoicing  in  hope  or  else  tears  of  pen- 
itence, according  to  the  spiritual  status  of  the  subject. 

On  the  march  men  hailed  his  appearance  with  joy.  The  lag- 
ging steps  grew  more  elastic,  the  drooping  form  more  erect,  a 
smile  came  to  every  face,  and  the  eye  of  the  tired  soldier  sparkled 
as  "  Uncle  John  "  rode  alongside  the  column  with  words  of  greet- 
ing and  of  encouragement.  Sometimes  a  would-be  wit  would 
loosen  his  tongue  and  begin  to  chaff  the  "  parson  "  on  his  appear- 
ance or  his  "  bomb-proof  "  relation  to  the  army.     Before  that  con- 


WITH  THE  BOTS  IN  GRAY.  353 

versation  ended  the  man  who  began  it  wished  his  tongue  had 
cleaved  to  the  roof  of  his  mouth  before  he  had  uttered  a  word. 
Repartee  came  to  no  other  man  as  happily  and  from  no  other  as 
gracefully  as  Dr.  McFerrin,  and  the  most  waggish  "Reb"  would 
always  be  discomfited  when  he  measured  words  with  this  soldier- 
preacher.  Many  a  man  was  silenced  amid  shouts  of  laughter 
from  his  comrades,  and  many  a  man  carried  to  his  soldier's  grave 
or  to  the  end  of  the  war  a  nickname  received  in  one  of  these 
efforts  to  "joke  the  preacher." 

But  the  Doctor  did  not  always  ride.  Oftentimes  he  was  seen 
trudging  along  through  the  dust  or  mud  with  the  marching  col- 
umn. On  these  occasions,  if  you  would  look  ahead  or  to  the  rear 
you  would  see  a  barefooted,  sick,  or  tired  soldier  riding  the  Doc- 
tor's horse.  There  was  a  tender  heart  in  his  breast  for  the  callow 
boys  who  had  rushed  into  a  life  for  which  they  were  unfitted,  and 
many  a  poor  boy  got  home  to  mother  instead  of  rotting  in  a  North- 
ern prison,  because  this  tender-hearted  man  gave  up  his  horse,  and 
walked  until  the  weary  limbs  were  rested  and  the  boy  was  able  to 
keep  up  with  the  retreating  column.  As  to  riding  when  he  saw  a 
gray  head  bending  with  weariness  and  burdened  with  gun  and 
knapsack,  it  was  not  in  him.  And  so  it  was  that  sometimes  he 
would  give  one  man  a  ride,  and  then  he  would  mount  and  ride  a 
few  hundred  yards,  and  down  again  to  put  another  sick  or  broken- 
down  man  on  his  horse.  More  than  once  this  writer  has  been  or- 
dered to  dismount,  with  the  explanation  that  a  sick  man  had  his 
horse,  and  he  was  tired. 

When  the  long  day's  tramp  was  done  and  the  scanty  supper 
eaten,  if  you  heard  a  hymn  and  saw  men  rising  up  from  around 
the  camp-fires  and  flocking  toward  the  singer,  if  you  followed 
you  would  see  the  light  from  the  pile  of  cedar  rails  falling  on  the 
rugged  face  of  Dr.  McFerrin,  and  you  would  hear  that  voice  of 
wonderful  pathos  and  power  raised  in  prayer.  He  prayed  for  the 
men,  for  the  country,  for  the  success  of  our  armies.  He  prayed 
for  the  homes  in  the  far-off  States,  for  the  dear  old  fathers  and 
mothers ;  the  loving,  waiting,  anxious  wives ;  the  blessed  little  ones 
that  were  lisping  their  little  prayers  for  father's  safe  return  from 
the  war;  and  as  he  prayed,  men  would  sob  and  weep,  and  join 
in  the  prayer,  and  then  go  and  lie  down  on  their  blankets  or  on 
the  ground,  feeling  safer  and  happier  for  their  faith  in  that  man's 
God. 

23 


354  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


He  was  not  a  fighter.  He  was  truly  a  non-combatant.  But  he 
never  shunned  the  field  of  battle.  He  seemed  to  have  no  feai. 
Calm  and  cool  as  if  he  trod  the  aisles  of  God's  own  house,  he  moved 
amid  the  falling  shot  and  screaming  shell.  Down  upon  his  knees 
to  hear  the  last  whisper  of  a  dying  man;  praying  for  some  de- 
spairing sinner,  and  telling  of  the  Saviour's  desire  to  save  to  the 
uttermost;  twisting  a  handkerchief  to  check  the  flow  of  blood 
from  a  wounded  leg  or  arm ;  lifting  a  wounded  man  in  his  arms, 
and  bearing  him  to  a  place  of  safety  or  to  the  surgeon ;  in  the 
lull  of  the  battle  moving  among  the  men  with  words  of  cheer;  so 
glad  to  meet  the  un wounded,  so  sorry  to  hear  of  the  dead;  so  full 
of  sympathy  for  those  whose  dear  ones  had  been  stricken  down 
beside  them;  perchance,  if  time  served,  a  prayer;  and  then,  when 
the  storm  broke  again,  and  the  men  began  to  fall,  back  to  his  ar- 
duous duties,  his  labor  of  love.  And  after  the  battle,  when  the 
wounded  had  been  sent  away  to  the  hospitals,  and  the  dead  had 
been  buried,  he  came  to  us  like  a  father,  and  drew  lessons  from 
the  facts  of  life  or  death  to  turn  men's  minds  to  God  and  make 
them  feel  the  need  of  a  personal  Saviour. 

But  it  was  in  the  late  winter  or  early  spring  of  1864  that  Dr. 
McFerrin  reaped  the  great  harvest  from  the  seed  he  nad  sown. 
Men  had  learned  to  love  him.  His  name  was  a  key  to  their  hearts. 
His  face  was  familiar.  The  tones  of  his  voice  were  well  known. 
The  brave  men  respected  the  man  who  would  face  everv  danger 
without  fear,  and  they  loved  the  man  who  had  faced  these  dangers 
for  them.  The  men  whom  he  had  carried  in  his  arms,  to  whose 
parched  lips  he  had  held  the  canteen  of  water,  were  back  from  the 
Hospital  and  back  from  the  furlough.  They  hailed  his  coming 
with  delight.  They  talked  of  his  good  deeds,  of  how  he  looked 
and  how  he  talked  until  the  raw  recruit  knew  him  on  sight,  and 
needed  not  to  be  told  whose  voice  he  heard  when  he  spoke  to  him. 
All  around  Dalton,  Georgia,  wherever  there  was  a  brigade  en- 
camped there  was  a  meeting,  and  men  were  converted.  He  was 
as  iron ;  he  was  tireless.  He  seemed  to  feel  that  thousands  who 
must  die  in  the  next  campaign  were,  if  saved  at  all,  to  be  saved 
now.  And  so  he  preached  and  prayed  and  sung,  and  thousands 
heard  and  repented  and  believed,  and  in  heaven  to-day  are  greet- 
ing him  as  the  happy  instrument  in  their  salvation. 

Down  at  Kingston,  Georgia,  was  a  battalion  of  artillery  in  win- 
ter quarters.     Dr.  McFerrin  went  to  them.     He  began  to  preach, 


WITH  THE  BOYS  IN  GRAY.  355 

and  the  men  who  cared  to  listen  to  no  other  preacher  went  out  to 
hear  "  Uncle  John."  It  was  a  perfect  Pentecost.  In  a  few  days 
the  whole  moral  tone  of  that  battalion  was  changed.  Instead  of 
two  or  three  Christian  men  in  each  company  there  were  now  only 
two  or  three  hardened  sinners,  who  wondered  and  sneered  and 
chafed  at  the  change.  There  were  prayers  in  every  cabin,  and 
happy  was  the  mess  with  which  the  preacher  lodged  at  night. 
There  were  two  or  three  prayer-meetings  every  week.  Every 
man  who  could  talk  a  little  was  begged  to  preach  or  exhort. 

From  that  meeting  went  forth  three  preachers  of  the  gospel. 
One  was  a  Methodist,  one  a  Baptist,  and  one  a  Presbyterian;  but 
all  of  them  loved  Dr.  McFerrin  as  a  spiritual  father.  Two  of  the 
three  went  on  before  the  grand  old  man,  and  were  ready  to  wel- 
come him  on  the  other  shore.  One,  the  Methodist,  is  still  in  the 
field  working  for  the  Master. 

An  incident  at  the  close  of  the  Kingston  meeting  shows  the 
catholicity  of  the  man.  He  opened  the  doors  of  the  Churches.  A 
half-dozen  scribes  wrote  certificates  that  "A.  B.  had  professed 
conversion  at  Kingston,  Georgia,  and  wished  to  join  such  a 
Church."  These  certificates  he  signed,  and  gave  to  the  men  to  be 
sent  home  to  the  pastors.  The  third  man  who  came  forward 
wanted  to  join  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  he  received  a 
certificate  to  that  effect.  How  grand  it  would  be  if  every  Roman 
Catholic  were  as  soundly  converted  as  Pat  S. ! 

His  sermons  had  a  most  wonderful  power.  Men  were  con- 
vinced by  the  simple  utterance  of  the  text.  He  preached  from 
the  text,  "Marvel  not  that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born 
again,"  and  no  man  marveled.  It  seemed  the  most  natural  and 
simple  thing  in  the  world,  and  hundreds  of  men  needed  not  the 
fierv  exhortation  that  followed  to  induce  them  to  seek  the  new 
birth.  Again,  it  was  "  He  that  believeth  shall  be  saved,"  and  men 
believed  and  were  saved,  and  sat  full  of  triumphant  faith  until 
they  could  rush  forward  and  clasp  the  preacher  in  their  arms,  and 
tell  him  the  SAveet  tidings  of  their  salvation.  And  he  never  forgot 
these  men.  Yeai*s  after  the  war  closed  they  would  meet  him  on 
the  train  or  on  the  street,  and  he  would  tell  them  what  regiment 
or  company  they  belonged  to,  and  every  incident  of  their  army 
acquaintance  would  be  recalled.  Sometimes  he  would  tell  of  cir- 
cumstances the  men  themselves  had  forgotten.  No  wonder  the 
whole  Armv  of  Tennessee  loved  this  man!     No  wonder  the  name 


356  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

of  John  B.  McFerrin  is  so  precious  to  the  children  of  these  men 
among  whom  he  moved  as  an  angel  of  God,  and  to  whom  he 
brought  the  light  of  God ! 

In  his  visits  to  the  sick  and  wounded  in  the  hospitals 
he  made  no  distinction  between  the  boys  in  gray  and  the 
boys  in  blue.  Many  a  Union  prisoner  was  comforted 
and  cheered  by  his  ministrations,  and  bore  to  their  North- 
ern homes  warm  affection  for  him  in  their  hearts,  or  died 
invoking  blessings  upon  his  head  with  their  last  breath. 
In  this  he  was  not  singular;  if  there  was  a  chaplain  on 
either  side  who  drew  a  line  of  distinction  at  the  couches 
of  the  sick  and  the  dying,  the  fact  is  not  recorded.  The 
Christianity  that  thus  asserted  its  heavenly  power  to 
mitigate  the  horrors  of  war  will,  we  can  not  doubt,  in 
its  full  development  and  consummated  mission,  make  all 
war  impossible.  That  eruption  from  the  hell  of  human 
passion  can  have  no  place  on  this  earth  when  the  Prince 
of  Peace  shall  have  established  his  dominion  from  sea 
to  sea. 


DR.  McFERRIN  AS  BOOK  AGENT. 


DR.  McFERRIN'S  first  term  as  Book  Agent  was 
cut  short  by  the  war.  In  his  way  he  tells  us  how 
it  was  done  in  a  former  chapter.  He  was  magnifying 
his  office  as  an  economizer,  and  making  haste  slowly  and 
surely  when  struck  by  that  cyclone.  It  would  be  an 
easy  task  to  criticise  his  methods  and  to  prove  that  per- 
fect wisdom  did  not  mark  his  management  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Publishing  House.  The  fact  is,  the  whole 
matter  of  conducting  such  an  enterprise  was  new  to  our 
people,  and  he  had  to  educate  both  himself  and  the 
Church  therefor.  A  more  sanguine  man  might  have 
gone  faster,  and  there  were  many  men  in  the  Church 
who  had  read  more  books  than  he  had.  But  the  in- 
stinct that  put  him  in  this  place  was  not  at  fault.  There 
was  no  other  man  who  was  so  certain  to  avoid  extrava- 
gance and  dangerous  risks  in  attempting  too  much. 
There  was  no  other  man  in  all  the  Church  in  whom  the 
people  more  fully  confided.  They  looked  to  him  for  an 
honest,  conservative,  successful  management  of  the  finan- 
cial interests  of  their  Connectional  Publishing  House. 
And  they  depended  on  him  also  to  use  the  influence  of 
his  office  to  guard  the  orthodoxy  of  the  literature  of  the 
Church.  With  McFerrin  in  the  Book  Agency,  and 
Summers  in  the  editorship,  nobody  feared  that  heresy 
could  break'  in  over  the  courageous  resistance  of  the  one, 
or  creep  in  by  eluding  the  unremitting  vigilance  of  the 
other.     This  was  no  small  advantage.     It  was  more  ?m- 

(357) 


358  JOHN  B.  McFERRlN. 

portant  that  the  Church  should  start  right  than  that  it 
should  move  rapidly  in  such  an  enterprise.  The  debt 
of  gratitude  it  owes  to  these  two  men  on  this  score  is 
large.  The  stream  they  set  flowing,  if  small,  was  pure 
and  sweet;  if  hereafter,  as  the  volume  increases,  its  wa- 
ters become  muddy,  it  will  not  be  their  fault. 

The  same  sure  instinct  again  turned  the  General  Con- 
ference to  McFerrin  in  the  crisis  of  187S.  By  a  series 
of  disasters  the  Publishing  House  was  involved  in  a 
debt  amounting  to  $356,000.  The  empirical  devices 
usually  resorted  to  in  such  emergencies  had  all  been  ex- 
hausted. The  people  were  dispirited,  the  boldest  were 
disheartened,  the  wisest  were  at  their  wit's  end.  Not  a 
few  were  ready  to  abandon  the  enterprise  altogether, 
proposing  to  sell  out  for  whatever  price  could  be  ob- 
tained, and  henceforth  publish  only  by  contract.  Every 
expedient  was  suggested  but  one — no  voice  hinted  of  re- 
pudiation. All  felt  that  the  debt  must  be  paid  to  the 
last  cent.  But  how?  was  the  question.  What  new  de- 
vice is  possible?  What  can  be  done  to  restore  confi- 
dence, to  awaken  hope,  and  to  rouse  the  paralyzed  ener- 
gies of  a  great  Church?  The  same  thought  occurred 
simultaneously  to  many — put  McFerrin  back  into  the 
Book  Agency ;  the  people  all  know  him  and  believe  in 
him.  Put  him  back  there,  and  one  of  two  things  will 
happen — the  whole  business  will  be  wound  up  squarely, 
or  it  will  be  continued  on  a  proper  basis.  When  the 
matter  was  mentioned  to  him  he  held  back,  saving  he 
was  getting  too  old  for  such  a  task,  and  presenting  other 
reasons  why  he  ought  to  be  excused  therefrom.  But 
the  conviction  was  so  strong  and  so  general  that  the 
crisis  demanded  his  services  that  it  was  evident  he  would 
be  elected  unless  he  peremptorily  declined  to  accept  the 


DR.  McFERRIN  AS  BOOK  AGENT.  359 


office.  This  he  dared  not  do.  And  so  he  was  elected. 
When  the  result  of  the  ballot  .was  announced,  the  strong 
old  man  wept.  The  tears  he  shed  on  the  occasion  might 
have  had  a  twofold  cause— a  solemn  and  oppressive  feel- 
ing of  responsibility,  and  a  grateful  recognition  of  the 
confidence  which  such  a  vote  implied.  The  high  ten- 
sion attending  elections  of  this  sort  not  unfrequently 
results  in  an  exhibition  like  this.  Tears  bring  relief 
to  the  overtaxed  nerves.  But  there  wras  more  than  sen- 
timent in  the  weeping  of  the  veteran  servant  of  the 
Church.  He  knew,  at  least  in  part,  the  magnitude  of 
the  wrork  before  him.  Had  he  known  all  that  was  coming 
from  1S7S  to  1S87,  his  tears  might  have  flowed  still  more 
freely.  Had  he  looked  still  farther  ahead,  he  would 
probably  have  realized  the  words  written  by  an  inspired 
singer  and  recorded  in  the  Book  wherein  may  be  found 
all  the  best  things :  "  They  that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap 
in  joy." 

When  the  General  Conference  had  adjourned,  and  the 
new  men  chosen  to  conduct  the  publishing  interests  of 
the  Church  met  in  Nashville,  the  prospect  was  not  a 
bright  one.  With  Dr.  McFerrin  as  Book  Agent,  Dr. 
Thomas  O.  Summers  as  Book  Editor,  Dr.  O.  P.  Fitz- 
gerald as  editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate,  and  Dr.  W. 
G.  E.  Cunnyngham  as  Sunday-school  Editor,  the  new 
regime  began.  The  creditors  of  the  Publishing  House 
were  uneasy,  some  of  them  clamorous.  The  circulation 
of  the  Christian  Advocate  had  run  down  to  about  seven 
thousand  names.  But  everybody  breathed  more  freely. 
A  change  of  some  sort  was  coming,  and  almost  any  pos- 
sible change  was  preferable  to  the  hopeless  stagnation 
that  had  prevailed. 

The  new  Book  Committee  were  called  together  by 


360  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

the  Book  Agent.  It  was  a  remarkable  body  of  men. 
Its  chairman  was  Judge  James  Whitworth,  who  was 
never  a  Jackson  man  in  his  politics,  being  an  old-line 
Whig,  but  who  was  grandly  Jacksonian  in  his  pluck, 
persistence,  and  integrity  of  character,  as  watchful  of 
Church  trusts  as  he  was  of  his  own,  and  adopted  business 
methods  in  doing  Church  business.  Never  was  a  sick 
child  nursed  more  assiduously  by  a  mother  than  was 
the  crippled  Publishing  House  cared  for  by  this  prompt, 
incisive,  well-trained  lawyer  and  banker.  Next  may  be 
named  Dr.  William  H.  Morgan,  a  massive  man  every 
way,  with  front-head  large  enough  to  see  ail  round  a 
question,  back-head  enough  to  drive  him  forward  to  his 
aim,  and  -top-head  enough  to  make  him  hold  to  a  con- 
viction as  long  as  he  has  breath.  Then  comes  Dr.  Will- 
iam Morrow,  a  man  whose  business  sagacity  and  energy 
are  equaled  by  his  open-handed  liberality,  whose  izileas- 
ure  in  dispensing  money  in  doing  good  equals  his  gen- 
ius in  its  acquisition;  and  Mr.  Thomas  D.  Fite,  a 
specimen  of  superb  physical  manhood,  with  a  great 
Methodist  heart  and  excellent  business  talents;  and  Nat. 
Baxter,  Jr.,  a  man  who  combines  in  a  remarkable  de- 
gree the  penetration  of  a  lawyer,  the  ability  of  a  true 
financier,  and  the  quick  and  rare  grasp  that  takes  in  the 
various  views  of  a  body  of  men,  and  puts  them  into 
one  motion  that  harmonizes  them ;  and  Dempsey  Weav- 
er, a  banker  whose  financial  ability  did  not  surpass  the 
generosity  that  made  him  the  benefactor  of  every  good 
cause  and  the  goodness  that  made  him  the  friend  of 
all  the  needy;  and  Samuel  J.  Keith,  a  successful  busi- 
ness man  who  brought  to  the  Book  Committee  the  same 
fidelity  and  large  common  sense  that  characterized  him 
in  the  prosecution   of  his  own   affairs;  and  Col.  D.  T. 


DR.  McFERRIN  AS  BOOK  AGENT.  361 

Reynolds,  a  Tennessee  farmer  of  excellent  judgment, 
liberal-minded,  and  zealous  for  the  Church;  and  Mr. 
John  A.  Carter,  a  big-brained,  great-hearted  Louisville 
merchant,  accustomed  to  large  plans,  yet  possessing  a 
genius  for  details;  and  last,  but  not  least,  among  the 
lay  members  of  the  committee,  Judge  Edward  H.  East, 
a  lawyer  who  holds  no  second  place  at  the  bar  of  his 
State — keen,  quick,  logical,  eloquent,  witty,  as  occasion 
may  demand — whose  services  were  invaluable,  especial- 
ly in  the  earlier  and  more  difficult  period  of  the  Com- 
mittee's work.  Then  come  the  clerical  members:  Dr. 
R.  A.  Young,  a  man  who  can  handle  money  as  well  as 
theologv  and  literature,  a  man  who  can  preach  sermons, 
write  books,  and  keep  books;  Dr.  Allen  S.  Andrews,  a 
strong  man,  whose  administrative  capacity  has  proved 
itself  equal  to  the  pastorate  of  a  city  Church,  the  presiden- 
cy of  a  Methodist  college,  or  the  guardianship  of  a  pub- 
lishing house;  Dr.  A.  G.  Haygood,  a  brilliant,  brave, 
and  brainy  man  who  is  making  his  mark  on  his  genera- 
tion. Of  this  committee  Dr.  McFerrin  said:  "It  is 
not  surpassed  in  ability  by  the  Cabinet  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States."  The  Bishops  of  the  Church 
were  all  advisory  members,  and  their  wisdom,  experi- 
ence, and  wide  knowledge  of  the  wants,  wishes,  and  re- 
sources of  the  Church  were  found  very  helpful  in  all 
emergencies.  From  California  was  called  Mr.  Lewis 
D.  Palmer,  to  be  the  Business  Manager  of  the  Publish- 
ing House — described  as  "  a  man  with  a  telescopic  mind 
and  a  microscopic  eye,"  a  man  who  made  logarithms  the 
recreation  of  his  leisure  hours  when  a  student,  and  who 
has  the  rare  power  of  unraveling  the  tangled  skeins  of 
complicated  accounts,  and  who  did  a  work  in  that  line 
for  the  Church  that  entitles  him  to  its  lasting  gratitude. 


362  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

In  this  brief  enumeration  of  the  forces  that  were  now 
at  work  for  the  rescue  of  the  Publishing  House  and  the 
honor  of  Southern  Methodism  the  name  of  Mr.  Sam- 
uel K.  Welburn  can  not  properly  be  omitted — a  man 
who  by  special  adaptation  to  the  work,  long  experience, 
and  unremitting  diligence,  became  a  sort  of  factotum, 
knowing  all  about  types,  presses,  books,  every  thing  al- 
most connected  with  the  business  of  the  concern — a  walk- 
ing encyclopedia  of  Publishing  House  matters. 

A  scheme  for  bonding  the  enormous  debt  was  devised, 
which  was  the  chief  means  of  working  out  the  salvation 
of  the  Publishing  House.  The  honor  of  proposing  this 
scheme  has  been  attributed  to  twro  different  members  of 
the  Board,  one  of  whom  is  dead,  and  the  other  still  liv- 
ing and  working  for  the  Church.  As  the  entire  Board 
had  the  good  sense  to  adopt  it  and  the  good  fortune  to 
make  it  grandly  successful,  let  them  all  share  the  credit 
of  it  now.  Special  honor  will  be  awarded  to  whom  it 
is  due  when  every  man  shall  be  rewarded  according  to 
his  work — that  is,  according  to  its  motive  and  its  measure. 

The  next  chapter  will  give  some  account  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  Dr.  McFerrin  worked  on  the  plan  thus 
adopted. 


McFERRIN'S  GREAT  BOND  CAMPAIGN. 


T 


O  sell  the  Publishing  House  bonds  was  the  next 
thing,  and  it  was  not  an  easy  thing  to  do.  The  de- 
pressed condition  of  the  institution,  the  disheartened  state 
of  the  Church,  and  the  many  openings  for  the  profitable 
investment  of  money  in  the  South,  made  it  seem  very  im- 
probable that  business  men  would  be  eager  to  buy  Mc- 
Ferrin's  four  per  cents.  But  it  was  felt  that  they  must 
be  sold,  and  he  started  out  to  do  it.  The  details  of  the 
scheme  were  explained  through  the  Church  press,  and 
the  faithful  were  urged  to  rally  with  their  subscriptions. 
Nashville  Methodists,  including  the  Agent  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Book  Committee,  started  the  movement  in  a 
liberal  way,  and  by  the  time  the  autumn  sessions  of  the 
Annual  Conferences  began  Dr.  McFerrin  was  ready  to 
start  on  his  great  bond  campaign.  He  had  the  assistance 
of  Dr.  R.  A.  Young,  who  had  been  requested  by  the 
Book  Committee  to  lend  his  efficient  help  on  a  line  of 
service  wherein  he  had  achieved  uniform  success.  The 
speeches  made  by  McFerrin  as  he  went  from  Confer- 
ence to  Conference  and  from  city  to  city  touched  skill- 
fully every  responsive  chord  in  the  hearts  of  the  men 
and  women  who  heard  them.  Starting  at  the  lowest 
point,  he  told  them  that  it  was  a  good  business  invest- 
ment, that  four  per  cent,  was  fair  interest  on  money,  that 
the  United  States  Government  paid  no  more;  that  the 
security  was  as  good  as — yea,  better  than — that  of  Govern- 
ment bonds,  for  human  governments  might  perish,  but  the 

(3G3) 


364  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Church  would  never  fail;  that  the  Southern  Methodist 
Church  had  paid  the  heavy  debt  incurred  in  the  prose- 
cution of  its  missionary  work  during-  the  war;  and  that 
her  honor  was  safe  in  the  keeping  of  her  children, 
nearly  a  million  strong.  Then  he  would  draw  a  picture 
of  the  consequences  of  the  failure  of  the  scheme:  the 
debt  can  not  be  paid,  the  mortgages  are  foreclosed,  the 
Publishing  House  is  to  be  sold,  and  the  day  of  the  sale 
has  come.  The  Bishops,  the  General  Conference  offi- 
cers, the  preachers,  the  people — men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren— are  gathered  on  the  Public  Square  in  Nashville, 
in  front  of  the  Publishing  House,  to  witness  the  sad  and 
shameful  scene — the  sale  of  the  honor  and  good  name 
of  the  Southern  Methodist  Church!  Who  bids?  Go- 
ing! going! — about  this  time  there  are  evident  signs  of 
deep  feeling  in  the  audience,  and  when  at  last,  with 
moistened  eyes  and  quivering  lips  he  shrieks  out  with 
startling  vehemence  the  words,  "  May  I  die  before  that 
day! "  they  are  ready  to  act,  and  his  bonds  are  subscribed 
for  as  fast  as  the  quick-fingered  secretaries  can  write 
down  the  names.  Now  and  then  the  attendant  circum- 
stances would  be  inaus]Dicions,  and  he  would  have  to 
make  a  still  harder  pull,  but  he  would  prove  equal  to 
the  emergency.  One  of  his  illustrations,  in  closing  an 
appeal,  was  like  this:  "In  my  boyhood,  when  Tennes- 
see Was  first  being  settled,  I  remember  the  exciting 
scenes  that  took  place  at  the  house-raisings.  The  hewn 
logs  were  lifted  into  their  places,  one  after  another,  until 
the  walls  were  raised  all  round,  and  last  of  all  the  ridge- 
pole was  to  be  elevated  to  its  place.  The  women  look  on 
while  the  men  push  and  pull  and  strain  to  the  utmost; 
the  top  is  almost  gained,  but  the  weight  is  too  great, 
the  ascent  stops — steady!  steady!  the  log  will  not  move 


McFERRIN'S  GREAT  BOND  CAMPAIGN.       365 

upward  another  inch;  nay,  it  is  ready  to  topple  back  and 
down  upon  the  workmen.  The  cry  comes,  «  Women, 
help!'  The  women  throw  their  weight  and  strength 
upon  the  skids,  and  with  one  more  mighty  effort  the 
great  piece  of  timber  reaches  its  place,  and  the  work  of 
the  day  is  done!  Women  of  Southern  Methodism, 
help  now,  or  the  Church  you  love  may  be  dishonored, 
and  the  cause  of  your  Saviour  suffer!"  This  appeal, 
made  in  McFerrin's  inimitable  and  indescribable  way, 
would  strangely  stir  his  hearers ;  the  women  would  come 
to  his  help,  a  fresh  impetus  would  be  given  to  the  subscrip- 
tion, and  a  great  victory  would  be  achieved  and  recorded. 
A  characteristic  incident  took  j:>lace  on  the  occasion  of 
his  visit  to  Louisville  on  this  business,  accompanied  by 
Dr.  Young  and  the  writer  of  these  chapters.  The  mat- 
ter of  his  mission  in  behalf  of  the  Publishing  House 
had  been  presented  with  encouraging  success  to  the 
Walnut  Street  and  Broadway  congregations.  On  the 
following  evening  a  similar  presentation  of  the  matter 
was  to  be  made  to  the  Chestnut  Street  people,  McFer- 
fin  to  lead  off  and  make  the  principal  address,  and  his 
two  associates  to  follow  in  brief  talks,  as  the  occasion 
might  demand.  The  weather  was  bad,  and  the  audience 
rather  small.  McFerrin  had  been  taking  a  late  supper, 
and  made  a  hurried  walk  to  the  church  to  avoid  being 
tardy.  After  preliminary  religious  services,  he  began 
his  speech.  It  was  evident  that  for  once  he  was  making 
a  failure.  His  mind  did  not  seem  to  act;  he  floundered 
along,  pointless,  languid,  heavy.  "  What  is  the  matter 
with  McFerrin  ?  "  whispered  Young.  "  I  never  saw  him 
in  such  a  plight  before.  He  is  making  the  poorest  speech 
I  ever  heard  from  his  lips."  On  he  went,  still  limping 
strangely.     "  There   is  only  one  way  to   save   him :  we 


366  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

must  make  him  mad,"  said  Young ;  "  that  may  rouse  him." 
Acting  upon  this  notion,  Young  asked  him  some  ques- 
tion designedly  impertinent.  "What  did  you  say?"  de- 
manded McFerrin,  turning  sharply  upon  his  questioner. 
The  question  was  repeated.  He  stood  a  moment,  pon- 
dering, and  then,  in  his  most  sarcastic  tone,  said:  "Did 
you  ever  hear  such  a  silly  question  from  a  Doctor  of  Di- 
vinity ?  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  to  interrupt  a  speech  with  such  foolishness  as 
that;"  and  then  for  a  few  minutes  he  poured  upon  his 
venturesome  friend  such  a  torrent  of  sharp  but  good- 
natured  satire  as  he  had  scarcely  ever  heard  before. 
"All  right,"  whispered  Young;  "  he  will  go  now."  And 
he  did.  There  was  no  more  halting  or  dragging;  all 
his  mental  resources  seemed  to  come  into  full  play;  his 
wit  was  never  finer,  his  humor  more  irresistible,  or  his 
exhortations  more  moving.  He  made  one  of  the  very 
best  speeches  of  his  life,  after  that  bad  start,  and  his 
bonds  had  a  lively  sale  with  the  amused  and  delighted 
audience.  When  some  time  afterward  he  was  told  of 
the  means  used  to  rouse  him,  he  looked  half  angry  and 
half  pleased,  but  said  nothing.  If  he  considered  the 
liberty  taken  of  doubtful  propriety,  the  happy  result 
palliated  the  offense.  This  was  one  of  many  instances 
in  which  a  seeming  impediment  was  made  the  means  of 
larger  success.  Woe  to  the  antagonist  in  a  debate  who 
interrupted  him  when  under  full  headway!  Instanta- 
neously he  turned  and  bore  down  upon  him  with  all  the 
momentum  he  had  acquired,  and  down  he  went  under 
the  shock.  It  might  be  said  of  him,  as  it  was  said  of 
Stephen  A.  Douglas:  he  was  never  worsted  in  a  collo- 
quial encounter  of  this  sort,  though  he  met  his  match  on 
the  hustingrs  in  Abraham  Lincoln. 


McFERRIN'S  GREAT  BOND  CAMPAIGN.      367 

So  the  work  went  on.  Wherever  McFerrin  went 
preachers  and  people  were  stirred  by  his  appeals;  confi- 
dence returned  by  degrees;  the  bonds  were  taken  more 
and  more  freely;  confidence  rose  into  enthusiasm;  de- 
spair gave  way  to  renewed  hope,  and  hope  to  certainty 
that  the  Publishing  House  would  be  saved,  the  honor 
and  good  name  of  the  Church  maintained,  and  a  grand 
demonstration  made  of  the  denominational  fealty  and 
latent  power  of  the  Southern  Methodist  people.  To 
the  whole  Church  belongs  the  honor  of  this  achieve- 
ment, to  its  entire  ministry  and  his  immediate  official 
co-laborers,  much  credit  is  due ;  but  to  McFerrin's  won- 
derful hold  upon  the  confidence  and  affection  of  the 
Church,  and  his  masterful  leadership,  more  than  to  what 
was  done,  or  could  have  been  done  by  any  other  man, 
must  this  deliverance  be  ascribed.  He  was  the  providen- 
tial instrument  specially  adapted  to  the  great  work.  The 
fact  that  he  was  at  hand  when  the  crisis  called  for  him 
furnishes  a  ground  for  the  pleasing  conviction  that  God 
means  good  to  us  as  a  Church,  and  that  the  Publishing 
House  is  designed  by  him  to  bear  no  mean  part  in  the 
task  of  supplying  the  rapidly  multiplying  millions  of 
this  great  republic  with  a  wholesome  Christian  literature. 


AT  THE  ECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE. 


"  LET  HER  ROLL!" 

DR.  McFERRIN  was  perhaps  the  most  original, 
and  certainly  one  of  the  most  notable,  figures  in 
the  Methodist  Ecumenical  Conference,  held  in  London, 
in  1 88 1.  He  magnetized  the  body  in  the  inexplicable 
way  peculiar  to  himself,  and  left  an  impression  so  vivid 
that  it  abides.  "  He  was  a  wonderful  man,  just  such  a 
creature  as  we  never  saw  before,"  said  a  Welsh  news- 
paper, in  a  notice  of  the  notabilities  of  that  remarkable 
gathering  of  Methodists  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
He  was  one  of  three  Americans  who  seem  to  have  made 
a  peculiarly  distinct  personal  impression — Dr.  McFerrin, 
by  his  unique  individuality  and  magnetic  quality ;  Bishop 
McTyeire,  by  his  unconventional  cutaway  coat,  "  fog- 
horn "  voice,  and  weightiness  in  word  and  presence;  and 
Bishop  Peck,  by  his  behemoth-like  proportions,  English 
ways,  and  parliamentary  tact.  On  his  way  to  London 
two  incidents  occurred  that  drew  out  McFerrin  in  most 
characteristic  stvle.  Arriving  at  New  York  en  route,  he 
attended  a  fraternal  meeting  held  at  John  Street  Church, 
the  cradle  of  American  Methodism,  on  the  evening  of 
August  5.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Crawford,  of  New  York, 
delivered  an  address  of  welcome  to  the  delegates,  quite 
a  large  number  being  present.  Dr.  McFerrin  made  the 
principal  speech  in  response,  in  which  he  referred  briefly 
to  the  origin  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  America,  its 
progress,  and  its  divisions,  especially  to  the  division  of 
(368) 


AT  THE  ECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE.       369 

1S44.  He  alluded  briefly  to  the  controversy  that  fol- 
lowed that  event,  in  which  he  took  an  active  part,  being 
the  editor  of  one  of  the  Church  papers  in  the  South. 
He  also  referred  to  the  late  Civil  War  between  the  North 
and  the  South,  saying  he  was  a  native  of  the  South, 
that  he  sympathized  with  the  South,  and  took  sides  with 
the  South.  He  did  not  bear  arms,  being  too  old  and  a 
minister  of  the  gospel;  but  he  marched  with  the  sol- 
diers, ministered  to  the  sick  and  wounded,  preached  to 
the  well,  and  prayed  for  all.  He  rejoiced  in  the  victories 
of  the  Southern  armies,  mourned  at  their  defeats,  and 
was  sad  at  their  final  overthrow;  yet  all  the  time  he  be- 
lieved in  the  providence  of  God,  holding  that,  he  is  the 
God  of  nations  as  well  as  the  maker  and  ruler  of  the 
material  universe;  and  when  the  Southern  armies  sur- 
rendered he  accepted  the  situation,  went  home,  and  hon- 
estly tried  to  be  a  good  citizen.  He  had  kept  his  pledges. 
In  the  recent  fraternal  movements  he  had  been  among 
the  foremost.  He  had  visited  Round  Lake  Camp-meet- 
ing, in  the  North,  had  "made  friends"  and  shaken  hands 
with  the  brethren,  and  had  all  unkind  feelings  expelled 
from  his  heart.  He  was  now  on  his  way  to  the  grand 
Ecumenical  Conference,  where  he  expected  to  greet  the 
representatives  of  all  the  Methodist  bodies  in  the  world, 
and  he  anticipated  a  joyous  time.  In  this  strain  he 
spoke  about  forty  minutes,  with  frequent  applause,  at 
the  conclusion  leaving  the  whole  of  the  vast  auditory 
in  a  fraternal  and  spiritual  glow.  While  giving  his  ped- 
igree as  a  Methodist  there  was  a  little  colloquial  by-play 
between  him  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  M.  Buckley  that  was 
sharp  and  witty  on  both  sides,  and  which  the  friendly 
hearers  greatly  enjoyed. 

On  board  the  steamer  "  City  of  Berlin,"  in  which  he 
24 


370  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

embarked,  there  were  over  two  hundred  cabin  pas- 
sengers, many  of  them  delegates  to  the  Ecumenical 
Conference.  They  were  from  the  North  and  from 
the  South — Methodist  Episcopal,  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  Methodist  Protestant,  United  Brethren, 
and  several  Negro  Bishops.  The  company  was  select, 
and  the  voyage  pleasant.  On  Sunday  morning  the  En- 
glish Church  service  was  read;  in  the  evening  the  Rev. 
Dr.  George  R.  Crooks,  of  New  York,  preached  an  ex- 
cellent sermon.  On  Monday  evening  the  delegates  and 
friends  organized  a  fraternal  meeting,  electing  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin  chairman.  The  Rev.  Dr.  A.  C.  George  gave  a 
lucid  statement  of  the  origin,  progress,  and  design  of  the 
Ecumenical  Conference.  The  next  evening,  by  request, 
Dr.  McFerrin  addressed  the  meeting.  He  must  have 
been  in  his  happiest  mood.  The  large  and  elegant  sa- 
loon was  crowded.  After  a  hymn  and  a  prayer,  the 
speaker  was  introduced.  No  written  report  of  his  speech 
can  do  it  justice.  An  outline  of  it  can  be  given,  and 
only  those  who  have  heard  McFerrin  when  he  was  in 
one  of  his  moods  of  alternating  audacity,  humorousness, 
and  pathos  can  imagine  its  effect.  After  a  few  general 
remarks,  he  said  he  had  been  out  on  the  upper  deck  of 
the  magnificent  steamer,  had  been  marking  the  track  of 
the  vessel,  and  wondering  if  John  Wesley  and  Francis 
Asbury  had  sailed  that  way.  He  had  looked  diligently, 
and  he  could  see  no  signs  or  way-marks  of  their  voyages 
across  these  waters;  all  had  been  swept  away  by  the 
rolling  billows;  not  a  track  has  been  left  behind.  But 
not  so  on  the  soil  of  America;  there  they  had  left  im- 
pressions which  a  hundred  years,  with  all  their  changes, 
had  not  erased.  Nay,  those  impressions  were  deepening 
with   the  roll  of  time.     Through  Wesley  and  Asbury 


AT  THE  ECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE.       371 


and  their  co-workers  and  successors,  God  had  wrought 
wonders  in  the  New  World;  millions  had  been  brought 
to  Christ,  and  the  work  was  still  going  on  with  increas- 
ing power.  Their  followers  had  branched  off  into  differ- 
ent families,  but  they  were  all  working  to  the  same  great 
end — spreading  scriptural  holiness  over  all  lands.  They 
had  reached  the  Canadas,  gone  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
swept  over  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  reached  the  Pa- 
cific shores.  On  the  tops  of  the  lofty  hills  and  in  the 
vales  below  the  name  of  Jesus  had  been  praised,  because 
the  followers  of  Wesley  and  Asbury  had  heralded  the 
cross  of  Christ  through  these  lands.  "  We  are  going  up 
to  London  to  report  progress.  I  imagine  ourselves  in 
the  City  Road  Chapel,  the  home  of  John  Wesley,  the 
scene  of  his  early  and  earnest  labors.  He  is  in  the  chair, 
and  the  representatives  of  all  the  Methodist  families  are 
around  him.  I  arise  to  speak,  and  address  « Father 
Wesley.' 

"'  Who  are  you,  and  what  have  you  to  say?' 
" '  I  am  John  McFerrin.     I  come  from  the  great  Valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  lying  in  North  America.     I  belong 
to  the  Wesleyan  family,    and   have  come   up  with   my 
brethren  to  report  what  God  has  wrought.' 
"'And  what  have  you  been  doing,  my  son?' 
" '  Why,  Father  Wesley,  we  have  had  hard  times  in 
many  respects.     Our  country  was  new  and  rough;  we 
had  in  our  early  days  to  penetrate  the  wilderness,  swim 
rivers,  scale  mountains,  sleep  on  the  ground,  and  feed  on 
such  food  as  a  wild,  new  country  could  afford.     We  had 
no  bridges,  no  ferry-boats,  no  turnpikes,  no  railroads,  no 
steam-boats;  we  had  to  blaze  our  way  through  the  woods, 
and  preach  the  gospel  as  best  we  could,  under  trees  in 
the  forest,  and  wherever  we  could  get  a  hearing.' 


372  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

"  '  Well,  what  has  been  the  result? ' 

" '  Well,  Father  Wesley,  we  have  great  reason  to 
thank  God  and  take  courage.  We  have  grown  to  be  a 
numerous  people;  we  have  nearly  nine  hundred  thou- 
sand Church-members,  about  four  thousand  traveling 
preachers,  five  thousand  local  preachers,  and  five  hun- 
dred thousand  children  in  our  Sunday-schools.  We 
have  missionaries  in  China,  Mexico,  and  Brazil,  and 
among  the  Germans,  and  on  the  borders  of  civilization. 
We  have  about  five  thousand  Indians  in  our  Church. 
We  have  universities,  colleges,  high  schools,  and  acad- 
emies for  males  and  females.  We  have  a  large  Pub- 
lishing House,  where  we  print  and  from  which  we  send 
forth  yearly  millions  of  pages  of  sound  Christian  liter- 
ature. We  have  six  Bishops,  or  General  Superintend- 
ents, and  a  host  of  doctors,  editors,  and  professors.  We 
have  taken  into  the  Church  the  rich  and  the  poor; 
governors,  judges,  and  senators,  and  one  of  the  ex- 
Presidents  of  the  United  States,  have  held  membership 
in  our  Church.' 

"  'Well,  really,  my  son,  you  seem  to  have  had  great 
prosperity.' 

"  '  Yes,  Father  Wesley,  indeed  we  have  reason  to  thank 
God  and  go  forward.  But  there  is  one  other  item  I  wish 
to  mention:  We  did  a  great  work  among  the  colored 
population  in  the  slave  States.  Our  preachers  went  into 
the  rice,  sugar,  and  cotton  plantations,  and  preached  to 
the  poor  slaves,  and  thousands  of  them  were  converted. 
They  have  been  greatly  elevated.  You  English,  Dutch, 
and  other  Europeans,  went  into  the  wilds  of  Africa, 
captured  the  poor  creatures,  sent  them  in  ships  to  our 
new  country,  and  threw  them  upon  our  shores  savages, 
but  a  little  above  the  orang-outang,  degraded  almost  to 


AT  THE  ECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE.       373 

a  level  with  the  beasts  of  the  forest.  We  took  them 
and  civilized  and  Christianized  them,  and  now  we  brino- 
them  back  Bishops  in  the  Church  of  God  [pointing  to 
the  Negro  delegates  in  their  midst,  amid  laughter  and 
applause],  to  take  part  in  the  Ecumenical  Conference. 
Father  Wesley,  we  have  had  our  trials.  We  got  into  a 
dispute  with  our  Northern  brethren,  and  for  awhile 
Ephraim  vexed  Judah,  and  Judah  tormented  Ephraim, 
and  we  had  a  sore  time  of  it.  But  it  is  all  over  now. 
We  have  met  and  shaken  hands,  and  now  we  are  here 
as  a  band  of  brothers  to  rep  resent  the  great  Methodist 
family  of  the  United  States  of  America.  We  feel  that 
we  are  on  board  the  old  ship  of  Zion,  with  all  the  Meth- 
odist sailors,  steering  for  the  shores  of  the  heavenly  Ca- 
naan, and  our  cry  is,  Let  her  rollf" 

Here  the  audience  became  excited,  and  responded, 
"Let  her  roll !  let  her  roll !  "  The  words  were  taken 
up  on  all  sides  in  a  storm  of  pleasant  excitement.  That 
was  an  Ecumenical  prelude.  The  music  is  still  in  the 
air.     "Let  her  roll!" 

McFerrin  soon  got  the  ear  of  the  Conference,  and 
his  short* speeches  spiced  its  proceedings  in  a  way  that 
whetted  the  appetite  of  the  body  for  more  of  that  cu- 
rious compound  of  shrewdness,  quaintness,  devoutness, 
and  strange  power  that  now  for  the  first  time  exhibited 
itself  in  mighty  London.  There  was  mutual  wonder. 
The  scene  was  all  new  to  McFerrin,  and  he  was  a  new 
type  of  Methodist  ministerial  manhood  to  those  frater- 
nal but  inquisitive  men  who  came  up  from  all  parts,  of 
the  earth  to  look  each  other  in  the  face.  This  occasion 
furnished  a  supreme  test  of  that  indefinable  power  by 
which  some  men  assume  practical  chieftainship  among 
their  fellows.     There  were  in  the  Conference  men  more 


374  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

learned,  men  more  logical,  more  eloquent,  according  to 
the  ordinary  standards,  but  none  who  surpassed  him  in 
the  elements  of  a  popular  leader.  He  was  there,  as 
everywhere,  the  great  tribune. 

The  steel-engraved  likeness  which  is  placed  as  the 
frontispiece  of  this  book  is  from  a  photograph  of  Dr. 
McFerrin  taken  in  London  while  he  was  in  attendance 
upon  the  Conference.  It  is  the  picture  chosen  by  his 
wife  as  the  best  and  most  characteristic  of  any  of  which 
he  is  the  subject.  It  represents  him  in  his  seventy-fourth 
year,  when  time  and  toil  and  griefs  and  grace  had  done 
their  work  and  left  their  marks  upon  his  frame  and  his 
features;  when  the  Boanerges  of  the  pulpit  and  the 
corypheus  of  the  polemical  arena  had  ripened  into  the 
serene  wisdom  of  a  sage;  when  what  was  lost  in  vi- 
vacity was  gained  in  dignity  and  benignity  of  bearing 
and  expression;  when,  in  a  word,  the  thoughts  he  had 
cherished,  the  objects  for  which  he  had  lived,  and  the 
affections  he  had  cultivated  had  been  inwrought  into  all 
the  organs  of  expression,  and  his  mental  and  spiritual 
nature  had  received  all  except  the  final  touches  prepar- 
atory .to  his  translation  to  another  sphere.  It  is  the  pict- 
ure of  the  McFerrin  whose  life  we  have  traced  from  his 
happy  boyhood  and  youth  to  robust  young  manhood,  to 
the  maturity  of  his  powers.  There  he  is,  with  his  still 
robust  frame,  with  a  head  that  was  a  puzzle  to  a  phre- 
nologist, narrow  between  the  temples,  forehead  lo^jg  and 
sharply  receding,  bulging  above  the  ears,  and  narrowing 
at  the  top,  with  immense  driving-force  behind;  large 
Roman  nose;  mouth  wide;  lips  mobile,  yet  firmly  set; 
chin  rather  pointed,  yet  giving  the  impression  of  power 
and  fixedness  of  purpose;  eyes  steel-blue  and  deep-set, 
with  lashes  rather  heavy,  but  not  shaggy;  hands  rather 


AT  THE  ECUMENICAL  CONFERENCE.       375 

small,  with  slender  and  flexible  fingers;  feet  also  small; 
his  gait  that  of  a  man  who  was  going  somewhere  by 
the  most  direct  route;  his  large  features  in  repose,  a 
little  severe  in  expression,  but  with  a  suffusion  of  be- 
nignity, like  sunshine  on  the  face  of  a  cliff. 


THE  CENTENARY  CONFERENCE. 


DR.  McFERRIN  was  beyond  question  the  most 
venerable  figure  in  the  Centenary  Conference  of 
American  Methodism,  held  in  Baltimore  in  December, 
1884.  "He  was  the  belle  of  the  occasion,"  playfully 
said  a  noble  Christian  lady,  who  certainly  strained  a  fig- 
ure in  that  expression.  From  the  first  day  of  the  session 
he  was  recognized  as  the  patriarch  of  the  body.  His 
seat  in  the  chancel  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  was  the  focus  of  kindly  and  curious 
observation.  He  and  Dr.  James  E.  Evans  and  Dr.  Jesse 
Boring,  of  Georgia;  Dr.  Andrew  Hunter,  of  Arkansas; 
and  Dr.  J.  M.  Trimble,  of  Ohio,  were  the  sole  sur- 
vivors present  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  and 
they  were  regarded  as  heroes  who  had  come  down  to 
this  generation  from  that  which  had  fought  the  great 
battle  which  resulted  in  the  two  Episcopal  Methodisms 
in  America,  but  which  in  these  happier  times  had  come 
together  in  a  gathering  that  revived  the  hallowed  mem- 
ories of  the  past,  unsealed  the  fountains  of  brotherly 
love  and  started  its  streams  to  flowing  through  all  these 
lands.  It  was  a  ten-days'  love-feast,  and  McFerrin  rode 
its  topmost  wave.  His  heart  had  long  been  tuned  for 
the  occasion,  and  he  struck  the  right  chord  in  the  first 
speech  and  every  speech  he  made  during  those  ten  days 
that  typed  so  beautifully  the  promised  perfection  and 
blessedness  of  the  unified  Church  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  He  went  there  magnetized  by  the  divine  touch, 
and  he  in  turn  magnetized  the  whole  body.  His  very 
(376) 


AT  THE  CENTENART  CONFERENCE.         377 

looks,  in  connection  with  his  history,  spoke  of  swords 
sheathed,  hostile  banners  fiuicd,  a  new  era,  and  an  ac- 
celerated movement  of  the  hosts  of  American  Method- 
ism in  their  victorious  march.  That  he  should  speak  at 
the  meeting  of  welcome  on  the  first  night  was  a  matter  of 
course.  Who  so  ready,  witty,  original,  and  pathetic  as  this 
old  platform  king?  Few  eyes  were  dry  when  he  ended 
with  these  words:  "Last  year  I  was  very  near  the  gate 
of  heaven,  but  God  has  allowed  me  to  come  back  to 
witness  this  grand  Centenary  of  Methodism ;  and  when 
I  have  witnessed  this  I  may  say,  with  one  of  old: 
'Now,  Lord,  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace;' 
and  I  am  going  to  carry  up  with  me  the  news  that  all 
Methodists  are  one  in  heart,  and  are  carrying  out  the 
apostle's   injunction,    'Little    children,    love    one 

ANOTHER.'" 

At  the  reception  given  by  the  Mayor  of  the  city  it 
was  Dr.  McFerrin's  speech  that  wreathed  every  face 
with  smiles  and  warmed  every  heart  with  the  glow  of  the 
Christian  neighborliness  expressed  in  his  quaint  yet  apt 
and  telling  phrases.  If  a  dozen  delegates  were  on  the 
floor  when  he  rose,  all  were  ready  to  give  way  to  the 
old  man  who,  by  common  consent,  embodied  in  himself 
the  genius  of  that  Centenary  Conference.  The  specta- 
tors in  the  crowded  galleries  leaned  to  catch  his  words, 
and  the  delegates  cheered  all  his  speeches  with  a  hearti- 
ness that  was  inspiring  to  one  who  possessed  the  true 
orator's  temperament,  that  kindles  into  a  fresh  blaze 
when  it  feels  the  breath  of  popular  applause.  "  Listen 
how  they  applaud  Dr.  McFerrin!  "  exclaimed  a  delegate 
in  a  good-natured  way.  "  If  he  were  to  rise  and  recite 
the  multiplication-table,  I  believe  they  would  cheer  him  ! " 
The  echoes  of  his  words   at   the   Round   Lake  Camp- 


378  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

meeting  and  at  the  Ecumenical  Conference  at  London 
were  in  the  air  at  Baltimore,  and  with  them  the  magic 
of  his  presence,  that  never  failed  to  catch  and  hold  the 
ear  and  heart  of  any  assemblage  in  which  he  was  per- 
mitted to  speak.  The  brilliant  and  imperial  Bishop  Fos- 
ter; the  polished  and  fine-grained  Bishop  Andrew;  the 
quick  and  incisive  Dr.  Buckley;  the  genial  and  scholarly 
Dr.  Pierce,  with  Boston  culture  and  Methodist  fervor; 
the  saintly  Dr.  Merrick,  of  Ohio,  whose  speech  was  like 
the  breaking  of  an  alabaster-box  of  precious  perfume; 
the  militant  and  manly  Dr.  Arthur  Edwards,  of  Chicago; 
the  meditative  yet  wide-awake  Dr.  Fry,  of  St.  Louis; 
the  learned  and  thoughtful  Dr.  Miley,  of  Drew  Theo- 
logical Seminary;  the  munificent  and  modest  Dr.  Gou- 
cher;  the  ebony  Demosthenes,  Dr.  Pierce,  of  North 
Carolina;  the  sunny  and  clear-brained  Dr.  Scott,  of 
Pittsburgh;  the  princely  layman,  Cornell,  of  New  York, 
in  whose  face  beamed  a  benediction  to  all  humanity;  the 
electric  and  brilliant  Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  whose  wit  is 
as  unfailing  as  his  benevolence,  and  whose  rhetoric  has 
a  soul  as  well  as  a  sparkle;  Dr.  Briggs,  of  California, 
fluent,  polished,  and  strong;  Prof.  Little,  of  Dickinson 
College,  a  word-painter  and  a  thought-dispenser,  whose 
essay  on  the  "  Methodist  Pioneers  "  took  the  Conference 
by  storm  ;  Dr.  D.  A.  Whedon,  kinsman  of  the  great  com- 
mentator, and  of  the  same  fine,  scholarly,  Christian  metal ; 
Bishop  Bowman,  a  typical  Methodist  preacher,  who  has 
the  tongue  of  fire  in  the  pulpit,  and  the  flavor  of  the  old 
Methodism  everywhere — all  these,  and  many  more  not 
less  worthy,  were  there  from  sister  Methodist  bodies, 
besides  Dr.  McFerrin's  own  colleagues  from  the  South, 
of  whom  no  special  mention  can  be  made  here.  Among 
them  all  the  central  figure  was  the  old  man  who  sat  there 


AT  THE  CENTENAltT  CONFERENCE.        379 

in  their  midst,  bridging  the  distance  between  McKendrea 
and  Roberts  and  Simpson  and  Pierce. 

A  characteristic  episode  took  place  one  day,  when  the 
relation  of  children  to  the  atonement  and  to  the  Church 
was  under  discussion.  The  debate  took  a  wide  range, 
and  Dr.  McFerrin,  who  always  felt  a  special  interest  in 
that  question,  strained  his  hearing  to  catch  every  word 
that  was  said.  One  of  the  speakers — a  colored  delegate 
of  remarkable  sprightliness  and  fluency — stressed  the 
importance  of  Christian  culture,  and  drew  a  picture  of 
the  good  angels  and  evil  spirits  contending  for  the  mas- 
tery in  the  heart  of  a  child  until  at  last  the  good  angels 
triumphed.  Dr.  McFerrin,  who  thought  the  speech 
smacked  of  heresy,  was  on  Jiis  feet  instantly  when  the 
brother  sat  down.  "  Mr.  President,  I  want  to  say  a 
word  right  here,"  he  said,  and  there  was  at  once  an  ex- 
pectant and  respectful  hush.  "  The  brother  seems  to 
think  that  Christian  culture  is  all  that  is  needed  for  the 
salvation  of  children.  He  says  nothing  about  conver- 
sion. Culture!  culture!  culture!  "  he  continued,  raising 
his  voice.  "Is  culture  enough?  Do  you  begin  with 
culture?  Is  that  the  way  you  read  your  Bible?  Cult- 
ure! Xo,  brother,  you  don't  begin  there.  A  lady  once 
said  to  me  what  you  have  just  said.  I  said  to  her:  {  Let 
us  see  how  that  will  work.  Take  a  wild  crab-apple 
tree,  place  it  in  a  good  place  in  your  garden,  cultivate  it, 
and  see  if  you  can  make  it  bear  pippins.  Spare  no 
pains ;  give  it  faithful  and  skillful  culture  for  ten  years, 
and  then  what  sort  of  apples  will  you  find  growing  upon 
that  tree?  Crab-apples,  madam,  and  no  other  sort!  If 
you  want  pippins  or  russets,  you  must  graft  in  a  new 
branch.'  Culture!  That  is  not  the  starting-point.  Jesus 
settled  that  question  when  he    said :  '-Except  a  man  be 


380  cfOHN  B.  Mc'FERRlN. 


6om  again,  he  can  ?zot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.1  First, 
the  new  birth,  and  then  the  culture  and  the  growth. 
The  brother,"  he  continued,  "drew  a  picture  of  the  good 
angels  and  devils  fighting  for  the  possession  .of  the  soul 
of  a  child,  and  he  made  it  so  vivid  that  it  seemed  to  me 
I  could  almost  see  them  clawing  and  biting  one  another. 
But  while  he  was  talking  I  thought  of  the  poor  man 
who  had  a  legion  of  devils,  and  Jesus  ca??ze  along  and 
cast  them  all  out  at  once!  That's  his  way.  That  is 
the  good  old  way  of  our  fathers.  Better  stick  to  that, 
my  brother." 

As  he  sat  down  the  Conference  broke  forth  into  gen- 
eral applause,  and  no  more  was  needed  to  be  said  on  that 
side  of  the  question.  The  fluent  advocate  of  "  culture  " 
tried  to  explain,  but  showed  plainly  that  he  was  beaten, 
and  was  more  reticent  for  the  remainder  of  the  session. 

Another  episode  of  the  Conference  was  the  dramatic 
scene  that  took  place  at  its  close  between  Gen.  Clinton 
B.  Fisk  and  Dr.  McFerrin.  It  was  a  fitting  climax  to 
an  occasion  such  as  no  one  present  could  ever  witness 
a^ain.  The  venerated  Dr.  Trimble  was  conducting  the 
exercises  of  the  Conference  love-feast,  and  as  one  after 
another  of  the  brethren  in  brief  and  burning  words  re- 
lated their  experiences  the  feeling  become  more  and 
more  intense,  until  it  seemed  that  all  the  streams  of  fra- 
ternity that  had  been  open  for  a  hundred  years  of  Meth- 
odist history  had  met  in  the  gracious  baptism  of  that 
hallowred  hour.  At  length  Gen.  Fisk,  surcharged  with 
emotion,  rose,  and  said : 

"  It  would  take  two  hours  for  me  to  tell  all  that  is 
crowding  upon  my  heart.  This  meeting  is  the  remark- 
able hour  of  my  life.  First,  I  am  happy  in  the  Lord. 
I  am  glad  I  am  a  Methodist.      I  am  glad  to  see  the  work 


AT  THE  CENTENARl"  CONFERENCE.        381 


of  this  meeting.  It  will  be  twenty  years  in  a  few  months 
since  when,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  when  the  smoke  and 
flame  had  died  away,  to  my  quarters  in  Nashville — where 
I  was  clothed  with  more  responsibility  than  generally 
comes  to  me,  and  more  than  I  desire — there  came  two 
men.  One  of  them  was  J.  B.  McFerrin,  and  the  other 
was  A.  L.  P.  Green.  At  the  mention  of  that  last  name 
how  many  hearts  throb  with  gratitude  to  God  that  ever 
such  a  good  man  lived!  We  sat  down  and  talked  to- 
gether, and  the  talk  was  a  religious  one.  We  talked 
about  Methodism — not  about  organic  union  just  then, 
but  about  a  better  state  of  things,  and  about  fraternity. 
I  said  to  them:  'Do  you  think  the  time  will  ever  come 
when  there  will  be  a  better  state  of  feeling? '  And  this 
good  old  man  [placing  his  hand  on  Dr.  McFerrin's  head  J 
turned  to  me  and  said:  'Why,  bless  you,  you  will  see 
them  all  sitting  down  together  in  a  love-feast  yet! '  And 
here  we  are !  I  was  in  a  difficult  place,  and  with  most  dif- 
ficult work  on  my  hands  out  there  in  that  portion  of  the 
country,  and  from  the  President  down  no  man  gave  me 
so  much  help  as  this  good  man  upon  whose  head  my 
hand  now  rests." 

With  irrepressible  emotion  Dr.  McFerrin  rose  to  his 
feet,  and  in  a  moment  they  were  locked  together  in  fra- 
ternal embrace.  The  effect  was  thrilling.  The  whole 
body  rose  to  their  feet,  and  with  tears  and  swelling 
hearts  burst  forth  into  the  song: 

Together  let  us  sweetly  live, 

Together  let  us  die, 
And  each  a  starry  crown  receive, 

And  reign  above  the  sky. 

The  effect  of  the  Centenary  Conference  was  most 
happy.     It  started  American  Methodism  on  its  second 


382  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

century  in  a  frame  of  devout  gratitude  to  God,  with 
brotherly  love  and  joyful  hope  abounding.  No  dele- 
gate who  was  there  could  fail  to  be  more  brotherly  for- 
ever after.  Not  one  of  the  millions  represented  could 
fail  to  catch  something  of  the  gracious  glow  that  radiated 
from  it.  Its  concrete  result  was  embodied  in  a  paper  of- 
fered by  Dr.  McFerrin  on  the  last  day  of  the  session : 

Whereas  we,  the  delegates  of  the  Methodist  Centennial  Con- 
ference, held  in  Baltimore,  December  9-17,  1884,  have  found  the 
occasion  one  of  great  personal  interest  and  spiritual  profit;  and 
believing  that  it  has  strengthened  the  bond  of  brotherhood  be- 
tween the  various  branches  of  the  Methodist  family  represented 
in  the  Conference,  and  with  a  desire  to  utilize  and  make  perma- 
nent the  benefit  already  gained,  and  to  extend  and  widen  its  influ- 
ence in  the  future;  and,  whereas  we  desire  to  acknowledge,  rev- 
erentlv,  the  goodness  of  God  in  thus  bringing  vis  together  on  the 
hundredth  anniversary  of  our  ecclesiastical  family  life,  and  espe- 
cially for  the  peace  and  harmony  which  have  pervaded  all  our 
meetings;  therefore, 

i.  Resolved,  That  we  return  sincere  and  heart-felt  thanks  to  Al- 
mighty God,  both  for  the  occasion  and  for  the  marked  prosperity 
he  has  vouchsafed  to  us  as  a  people  for  the  past  century. 

2.  That  we  part  to  return  to  our  respective  fields  of  work  and 
life  with  sincere  and  deepened  affection  for  each  other, and  with  a 
holy  purpose  to  consecrate  ourselves  anew  to  the  great  work  for 
which  our  Church  was,  as  Ave  believe,  raised  up  of  God — to  spread 
scriptural  holiness  throughout  the  world. 

3.  That,  with  the  spirit  of  true  brotherhood,  we  will  seek  more 
than  ever  to  co-operate  together  in  every  practical  way  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  end. 

4.  That  we  respectfully  commend  to  the  Bishops  of  the  episco- 
pal, and  the  chief  officers  of  the  non-episcopal,  Methodist  Churches 
represented  in  this  Conference  to  consider  whether  informal  confer- 
ences between  them  could  not  be  held  with  profit  from  time  to  time 
concerning  matters  of  common  interest  to  their  respective  bodies. 

5.  That  we  shall  be  greatly  pleased  to  see  these  bonds  of  broth- 
erhood and  fellowship  increased  and  strengthened  more  and  more 
in  the  future. 


AT  THE  CENTENART  CONFERENCE.         383 

6.  That  any  occasion  that  may  bring  our  respective  Churches 
together  in  convention  for  the  promotion  of  these  objects  will  al- 
ways be  hailed  with  profound  satisfaction. 

While  the  vote  on  this  paper  was  being  taken  Dr. 
McFerrin's  face  was  radiant  with  joy.  Did  another 
hundred  years  of  marching  and  of  song  pass  before  him 
in  prophetic  vision?  and  did  he  anticipate  the  more  re- 
splendent glory  of  the  next  centenary  of  American 
Methodism  ? 


HIS  LAST  GENERAL  CONFERENCE, 


BY  the  votes  of  his  brethren  Dr.  McFerrin's  name 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  Tennessee  delegation 
to  the  General  Conference  which  convened  at  Rich- 
mond, Virginia,  in  May,  1SS6.  As  he  sat,  half  blind 
and  half  deaf,  in  front  of  the  chancel  of  the  church  in 
Columbia,  during  the  balloting,  he  was  like  a  father 
among  his  children,  and  his  election  was  as  creditable  to 
them  as  it  was  gratifying  to  him.  The  older  members 
of  the  body  had  nothing  in  their  gift  too  good  for  the 
old  chief  who  had  so  long  marched  at  their  head.  Mc- 
Ferrin's name  headed  their  ballots,  as  usual;  he  was  first 
in  their  affections  as  he  was  first  in  the  length  of  his 
service  to  the  Church,  and  there  was  a  smile  of  satisfac- 
tion on  their  bronzed  and  wrinkled  faces  when,  on  count- 
ing the  ballots,  his  name  stood  first.  He  took  this  action 
all  the  more  kindly  as  he  knew  that  it  was  rather  excep- 
tional in  its  character.  There  was  a  time  when  elections 
of  this  kind  went  largely  by  seniority  in  most  of  the 
Conferences,  but  now  younger  men  are  pushed,  or  push 
themselves,  to  the  front  in  the  active  competition  of  an 
age  when  aggressive  energy  rather  than  wise  conserva- 
tism is  the  passport  to  honor.  The  old  men  are  permit- 
ted to  rest  from  official  labors  and  linger  as  spectators  of 
the  arena  in  which  they  were  victors  in  their  prime. 
The  pathos  of  such  superannuation  no  one  can  know  who 
has  not  felt  it.  The  men  who  bow  to  it  in  unmurmuring 
submission  thereby  crown  their  heroic  lives  with  fresh 
glory.  Those  who  at  first  chafe  and  rebel  are  often  men 
(384) 


HIS  LAST  GENERAL  CONFERENCE.  385 

of  the  finest  metal:  like  the  blooded  horse  that  will  keep 
its  gait  until  it  drops  dead  in  its  tracks,  they  want  to  die 
in  the  harness.  McFerrin  was  the  only  really  old  man 
in  his  delegation.  At  the  Conference  love-feast  on  Sim- 
day  morning  he  was  the  first  speaker,  and  this  is  what 
he  said :  "  I  have  been  a  Methodist  seventy-one  years, 
and  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  sixty-six  years,  and  I  am 
still  at  work  for  the  Church.  I  enjoy  daily  communion 
with  God,  and  this  has  been  the  happiest  year  of  my 
life."  The  tremulous  tone,  tearful  eyes,  and  his  shrunken 
and  enfeebled  frame,  as  he  stood  there  before  his  breth- 
ren, caused  a  thrill  of  tender  emotion  throughout  the 
congregation,  and  the  old  men  gathered  around  him, 
embracing  one  another,  and  weeping  together. 

Dr.  McFerrin's  colleagues  in  the  General  Conference 
of  1SS6  were:  Revs.  R.  A.  Young,  D.  C.  Kelley,  R. 
K.  Brown,  J.  W.  Hill,  T.  J.  Duncan;  and  E.  W.  Cole, 
Thomas  B.  Holt,  B.  J.  Tarver,  S.  E.  H.  Dance,  W.  H. 
Morrow,  and  13.  W.  Macrae — a  strong  array  of  ministe- 
rial talent  and  business  capacity.  Dr.  McFerrin's  deafness 
caused  him  to  take  a  seat  in  the  chancel,  that  he  might 
be  near  the  presiding  officer  and  the  Secretary's  desk, 
and  thus  be  able  to  hear  what  was  said  and  done.  As 
the  patriarch  of  the  body,  by  common  consent  he  was 
recognized  as  being  properly  placed  in  this  position. 
There  was  no  keener  listener  or  more  vigilant  Church 
legislator  anions:  all  the  members  of  that  august  ecclesi- 
astical  assemblage.  He  was  often  on  his  feet.  Any 
measure  that  he  did  not  like  he  vigorously  opposed,  and 
any  business  which  his  impaired  hearing  prevented  him 
from  understanding  clearly  was  arrested  by  his  challenge 
until  it  was  explained  to  his  satisfaction.  At  times,  when 
the  debate  became  warm,  he  struck  fire  as  in  former 
25 


386  JOHN  B.  McFERIN. 

years ;  but  though  his  heart  was  as  courageous,  his  arm 
did  not  wield  the  battle-ax  with  the  same  strength.  He 
was  at  a  disadvantage  in  not  being  able  to  catch  fully  the 
spirit  of  all  that  was  said,  and  he  lost  in  some  degree  the 
stimulus  that  came  to  him  from  the  echoes  of  his  own 
forensic  shots  in  the  way  of  repartee  or  applause.  He 
spoke  against  all  innovations  of  whatever  sort,  and  voted 
"No"  on  most  of  the  changes  proposed  in  the  Disci- 
pline. The  debate  on  a  proposition  to  repeal  the  law 
making  it  mandatory  upon  pastors  to  read  the  Gen- 
eral Rules  to  their  congregations  sprung  him.  His 
whole  soul  rose  in  arms  against  it.  During  the  debate 
a  courtly  Doctor  of  Divinity  said  that  the  declaration 
found  in  the  Discipline,  that  "these  General  Rules  were 
such  as  the  Holy  Spirit  writes  on  all  truly  awakened 
souls,"  was  an  unwarranted  assumption.  "  Spiritual 
things  are  spiritually  discerned!"  retorted  McFerrin, 
quickly,  but  in  a  manner  so  grave  that  he  seemed  to  be 
unconscious  of  the  sarcasm  seemingly  involved  in  the 
remark.  He  spoke  and  voted  with  the  majority  on  that 
question,  though  able  and  plausible  speeches  were  made 
on  the  other  side  by  men  of  high  standing  in  the  Church. 
He  stood  with  the  minority  on  another  question  that 
excited  him  profoundly.  The  Ritual  for  Infant  Bap- 
tism was  changed  so  as  to  substitute  the  words  "  being  de- 
livered from  thy  wrath"  by  "being  saved  by  thy  grace." 
He  fought  the  change  with  great  earnestness,  and  when 
it  was  made  entered  his  protest  in  the  following  paper: 

PROTEST  OF  J.  B.  McFERRIN  AND  OTHERS. 
I  protest  against  this  action,  because  the  change  of  phraseology 
and  the  transfer  of  Avords  from  their  proper  place  in  the  Ritual 
for  Baptism  indicate  and  foreshadow  a  strike  at  the  doctrine  of 
original  or  birth  sin.  J    I>.  McF  errix. 


HIS  LAST  GENERAL  CONFERENCE.  387 

By  permission  of  the  Conference  the  following  names 
were  added  to  this  protest:  P.  H.  Whisner,  A.  S.  An- 
drews, H.  P.  Walker,  T.  G.  Slaughter,  J.  E.  Ryland, 
W.  W.  Stringfield,  W.  T.  Harris,  A.  W.  Newsom, 
John  S.  Martin,  Anson  West,  T.  R.  Pierce,  Asa  Holt, 
R.  A.  Morris,  S.  K.  Cox,  W.  I.  McFarland,  Benoni 
Harris.  A  smile  of  grim  satisfaction  rested  upon  the 
old  Doctor's  rugged  features  when  his  protest  was  read 
to  the  Conference. 

So  deeply  was  he  pained  by  this  action  that  he  insisted 
on  entering  his  protest  against  it  on  the  Journal.  It  was 
evident  that  he  felt  he  was  a  breakwater  against  a  tide 
of  innovation  that,  unrestrained,  might  sweep  away  the 
most  cherished  landmarks  of  the  Old  Methodism  he 
loved  so  much.  He  was  keenly  watchful.  No  motion 
was  allowed  to  pass  the  body  until  he  had  heard  its 
every  word  read.  He  magnified  his  office  as  a  Church 
legislator.  And  who  shall  say  that  his  watchful  and 
pugnacious  conservatism  was  not  needed  then  and  there? 
He  might  in  some  cases  have  leaned  too  far  in  that  direc- 
tion, but  with  so  many  new  men  ready  for  new  experi- 
ments, this  arch-conservative  old  preacher  was  not  out 
of  place  as  a  balancing  influence  in  the  General  Confer- 
ence. "  But  he  was  a  hard  man  to  handle,"  said  one  of 
the  younger  men  of  the  body.  "  He  was  so  firmly  set 
in  his  positions  that  only  the  hardest  blows  made  any  im- 
pression on  him  ;  and  yet,  if  you  hit  him  too  hard,  his  age 
and  venerableness  caused  your  blow  to  recoil  upon  you." 
One  afternoon  he  got  into  a  regular  colloquial  tussle 
with  a  number  of  the  delegates  after  the  fashion  of  his 
earlier  days,  and  such  ready  and  strong  debaters  as  Dr. 
John  E.  Edwards,  Judge  J.  Wofford  Tucker,  and  others, 
found  that  the  old  swordsman  had  not  lost  his  cunning 


388  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

in  fence,  while  the  members  of  the  grand  body  and  the 
crowd  of  visitors  were  delighted  to  have  one  more  ex- 
hibition of  his  powers  on  the  arena  in  which  he  might 
often  have  been  outargued  and  outvoted,  but  never 
worsted  in  a  rough-and-tumble  conversational  debate  in 
which  quickness  of  repartee,  skillfulness  of  manner,  and 
impetuosity  of  attack  are  the  conditions  of  victory. 

Xo  one  question  more  earnestly  engaged  the  thought 
of  this  General  Conference  of  1SS6  than  that  of  Dr. 
McFerrin's  relation  to  the  Book  Agency.  It  had  been 
announced  by  him  more  than  a  year  previous  that  he 
was  not  looking  to  a  re-election  to  that  office.  At  the 
session  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  held  in  Salem, 
Virginia,  in  March,  1SS5,  he  had  distinctly  affirmed  that 
that  was  his  last  official  visit  to  that  body.  To  the  writer 
of  this  biography  he  declared  more  than  once  that  his 
purpose  was  to  retire.  But  for  some  months  before  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Conference  it  was  evident  that 
his  mind  had  changed.  He  said  but  little,  but  what  he 
did  say  left  the  impression  that  he  would  not  decline  the 
office  if  re-elected.  "  I  don't  want  to  be  voted  for  as  a 
favor  or  as  a  compliment  to  me  for  past  services.  I  am 
no  hanger-on  or  pensioner.  I  am  able  to  live  without  a 
dollar  from  the  Church,  and  am  ready  to  do  so.  Let  no 
friend  of  mine  vote  for  me  unless  he  thinks,  all  things 
considered,  it  is  the  best  thing  for  the  Church."  Thus 
he  spoke,  and  beyond  this  he  was  silent.  When  the 
election  came  on  the  members  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence scarcely  knew  what  to  do.  Their  veneration,  grat- 
itude, and  affection  for  Dr.  McFerrin  prompted  them  to 
cast  their  ballots  for  him.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was 
nearly  eighty  years  old,  disabled  by  deafness,  blindness, 
and  difficulty  of  locomotion.     Besides,  it  was  known  that 


HIS  LAST  GENERAL  CONFERENCE.  389 


a  number  of  distinguished  ministers  were  spoken  of  for 
the  place,  as  was  the  able  layman  who  had  been  Busi- 
ness Manager  under  his  administration.  What  shall  we 
do?  was  the  unanswered  inquiry  in  the  minds  of  the  del- 
egates. "  The  tellers  will  proceed  to  take  the  vote," 
said  the  presiding  Bishop.  Whereupon,  Dr.  McFerrin 
rose  from  his  seat  within  the  chancel  and,  walking  slowly 
down  the  aisle,  took  his  place  at  the  head  of  the  Tennes- 
see delegation.  As  he  did  so  his  sixty  years  of  arduous 
and  effective  service  passed  before  the  minds  of  the 
brethren;  they  remembered  that  when  he  entered  upon 
the  work  of  the  Church  as  a  Connectional  officer  his 
stooping  form  was  erect,  his  gray  locks  were  dark,  and 
his  dimmed  eyes  were  bright  and  clear,  and  a  wave  of 
feeling,  silent  but  profound,  rolled  over  the  body,  and 
when  the  ballots  were  counted  John  B.  McFerrin's  name 
had  a  majority  of  all  that  were  cast.  This  election  has 
no  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  Church.  The  record 
of  the  man  put  him  beyond  the  possibility  of  formal 
superannuation.  This  case  will  not  be  pleaded  as  a  prec- 
edent. As  the  Church  has  had  but  one  McFerrin,  so  it 
is  not  likely  to  have  another  instance  of  the  election  of 
an  octogenarian  to  a  Connectional  office. 

But  why  the  change  in  Dr.  McFerrin's  mind  with 
reference  to  the  Book  Agency?  The  explanation  is 
worth  recording,  and  is  given  in  his  own  words:  "  I  had 
fully  made  up  my  mind  that  it  was  time  for  me  to  retire 
and  give  way  to  a  younger  man,  and  so  said  to  my 
friends.  My  purpose  to  do  so  was  fixed.  But  as  the 
time  for  the  election  drew  near  I  could  not  rid  myself 
of  a  feeling  that  if  I  did  so  disaster  would  result  to  the 
Church.  I  can  not  account  for  this  impression,  but  it 
was  so  solemn  and  so  abiding  that  I  dared  not  disregard 


390  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

it."  This  is  a  curious  bit  of  inner  history,  concerning 
which  the  reader  will  form  his  own  conclusion.  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin's  manner,  when  he  spoke  of  the  matter,  was  so 
subdued  and  reverential  that  it  left  no  doubt  that  he  be- 
lieved it  "was  a  divine  impression  upon  which  he  had 
acted.  Why  not?  To  be  led  by  the  Spirit  is  to  be  re- 
sponsive to  just  such  impressions  that  come  to  a  true 
servant  of  God  in  the  decision  of  questions  that  involve 
the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  Dr.  McFerrin 
was  no  mystic,  sentimentalist,  or  fanatic.  He  was  not 
addicted  to  visions,  dreams,  voices,  or  presentiments.  He 
took  a  common-sense  view  of  things,  and  expected  to 
reach  right  ends  by  the  use  of  right  means.  This  expe- 
rience of  his  concerning  the  Book  Agency  was  therefore 
invested  with  all  the  more  significance,  both  to  himself 
and  the  friends  to  whom  it  was  made  known.  Experiences 
similar  to  this  are  not  unfamiliar  to  the  readers  of  Chris- 
tian biography.  How  often  good  men  and  women  are 
unconsciously  helped  and  guided  in  the  minor  affairs  of 
life  by  the  gentle  yet  sufficient  movings  of  the  Divine 
Spirit  will  be  known  to  them  only  when  the  books  shall 
be  opened  at  the  last  judgment.  Our  twofold  prayer 
should  be:  Lord,  make  us  responsive  to  every  gracious 
touch  of  thy  Spirit!  Lord,  save  us  from  the  hardness 
and  blindness  that  would  cause  us  to  mistake  self-will 
for  thy  will! 

An  episode  of  this  session  of  the  General  Conference 
was  a  sermon  by  Dr.  McFerrin  at  the  Soldiers'  Home, 
of  Richmond.  The  room  was  crowded,  the  Governor 
of  Virginia  and  other  notable  men  being  present.  The 
simple  pathos  of  the  venerable  preacher,  who  had  slept 
with  the  soldiers  in  camp  and  ministered  to  them  on  the 
battle-fields  and  in  the  hospitals,  melted  all  hearts.    Gov. 


HIS  LAST  GENERAL  CONFERENCE.  391 

Fitzhugh  Lee  was  seen  to  wipe  away  the  tears  from  his 
face,  and  at  the  close  of  the  service  he  pressed  with 
warmth  the  hand  of  the  preacher,  amid  a  general  com- 
motion among  the  audience,  whose  sensibilities  had  been 
roused  by  his  discourse. 

When  the  General  Conference  adjourned  sine  die,  at 
eleven  o'clock  at  night  on  the  last  day  of  the  session,  the 
doxology  was  sung,  and  the  benediction  pronounced,  Dr. 
McFerrin  was  in  his  place ;  and  then,  leaning  on  the  arm 
of  a  brother,  he  made  his  way  to  his  lodgings,  having 
attended  his  last  General  Conference. 


GROWING  CHARITY. 


IN  the  South  the  result  of  our  Civil  War  hardened 
some  and  softened  others.  Professed  Christians, 
whose  faith  in  God  was  shallow-rooted,  were  shaken  or 
upset.  They  became  bitter,  cynical,  skeptical,  or  sunk 
into  the  apathy  of  despair.  Those  whose  faith  was 
deep-rooted  stood  the  storm.  They  did  not  conclude 
that,  because  their  plans  had  failed,  God  had  failed. 
They  reconstructed  their  plans  of  life,  but  made  no 
change  as  to  their  principles  of  action.  They  clung  to 
God,  to  the  Bible,  and  to  the  Church.  Not  only  so, 
but  their  natures  were  enlarged  and  sweetened  by  the 
rough  lesson  they  had  learned.  They  accepted  the  truth 
that  the  ways  of  God  are  often  past  finding  out,  and  still 
trusted  him  in  the  midst  of  their  wrecked  fortunes  and 
shattered  hopes.  Their  religion  was  not  surrendered  at 
Appomattox,  for  it  was  beyond  the  reach  of  human  con- 
tingencies. No  sublimer  spectacle  has  been  witnessed  in 
the  history  of  the  world  than  that  wdiich  was  presented 
by  evangelical  Christianity  in  the  Southern  States  as  it 
came  out  of  the  war  with  its  faith  unshaken  and  its  lines 
unbroken.  The  Southern  people  staked  all  their  earthly 
fortunes  on  the  conflict,  but  Southern  Christians  had  been 
too  well  taught,  and  their  faith  in  the  God  of  their  fathers 
was  too  firm,  for  them  to  adopt  the  shallow  notion  that 
success  or  defeat  in  a  contest  of  brute  force  must  always 
be  accepted  as  an  unerring  indication  of  the  right  or 
wrong  of  a  cause.  They  had  not  so  read  the  Book  that 
reveals  the  crucified  Christ,  nor  the  history  of  the  Church, 
(392) 


* 

GROWING  CHARITY.  393 


that  may  be  tracked  by  the  blood  of  its  martyred  saints. 
But  the  horizon  of  their  mental  vision  widened  under 
the  new  conditions  following  the  war.      With  the  new 
era  came   new   ideas    and    new  experiences.     They  set 
about  me  work  of  re-adjustment  with  alacrity,  and  pur- 
sued it  with  a  steadfast  patience  born  of  unconquerable 
faith  in  the  God  to  whom  they  had  prayed  in  the  agony 
of  their  struggle,  from  whose  goodness  they  yet  hoped 
to  obtain  larger  blessings  than  those  they  had  lost,  and 
under  whose  guidance  they  hoped  to  reach    a  grander 
destiny  than  that  for  which  their  heroes  had  bled  and 
died.      The  conservative   force  that   held  society  in   the 
Southern  States  together  after  that  awful  cataclysm,  the 
force  that  so  quickly  crystallized  its  apparently  irrecon- 
cilable elements  into  social  and  civic  order,  the  force  that 
propelled  the  reorganized  South  in  its  career  of  unex- 
ampled progress  in  the  midst  of  extraordinary  perils  and 
disabilities  during  the  little  more  than  two  decades  be- 
tween 1S65  and  this  year  of  our  Lord    18SS— this  con- 
servative, crystallizing,  propulsive  force  was  Christian- 
ity.    It  was    not  wise  statesmanship,  for  the  lack  of  it 
was  most  conspicuous.     It  was  not  new  secular  leader- 
ship, for  the  men  that  led  before  the  war  and  during  the 
war  still   led   the  Southern   people.      It  was  not  a  new 
sociology  or  a  new  political  economy,  but  rather  in  spite 
of   the  vagaries  of  impractical   theorizers,  the  blunder- 
ings  of  ignorance  and  the  rashness  of  bad  men.     It  was 
the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  that  only,  which  wrought  these 
wondrous  results;  and  the  Church  that  had  been  plant- 
ed in  the  South  by  Asbury  and  McKendree  and  their 
fellow-laborers  and  successors— the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South— which    had    carried    the  gospel   to  all 
classes,  rich  and  poor,  white  and  black,  bond  and  free, 


* 

394  JOHN  B.  McFERRlN. 

bore  no  inferior  part  in  the  glorious  work  which  had 
thus  been  accomplished.  It  had  touched  society  at  all 
points  through  the  agency  of  a  system  of  evangelization 
not  surpassed  by  any  other  in  its  effectiveness.  In  the 
light  of  these  later  times  we  may  see  where  they  erred 
in  judgment  or  failed  to  do  all  their  duty;  but  they 
made  a  record  of  which  their  spiritual  descendants  will 
never  be  ashamed,  and  left  them  an  inheritance  for  which 
they  should  never  cease  to  be  grateful. 

Dr.  McFerrin  did  not  acidulate  or  despair  under  de- 
feat and  disaster.  His  faith  never  wavered  for  a  mo- 
ment. He  needed  no  reconstruction  as  to  his  religious 
convictions,  and  he  adjusted  himself  to  the  great  changes 
that  had  taken  place  with  the  resignation  of  a  Christian, 
the  good  faith  of  a  true  patriot,  and  the  hopefulness  of 
a  man  whose  optimism  was  rooted  in  an  undoubting 
belief  in  a  good  God  who  rules  in  this  world  and  all 
worlds,  who  brings  light  out  of  darkness,  and  makes  all 
things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  him. 
Xo  more  hopeful  or  courageous  man  came  forth  from 
the  fires  of  the  great  conflict.  Such  a  man  could  be 
no  small  factor  in  the  restoration  of  pacific  feeling  and 
fraternal  intercourse  between  the  alienated  sections  of 
the  American  Union.  Gen.  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  who  was 
in  military  command  at  Nashville  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  bore  strong  testimony  to  the  fact  that  Dr.  McFer- 
rin's  large  influence  was  exerted  to  soften  asperities,  to 
promote  forgiveness,  and  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  hap- 
pier time  and  grander  destiny  to  which  God  was  leading 
the  nation  by  a  way  it  knew  not. 

At  the  great  fraternal  Methodist  camp-meeting  at 
Round  Lake,  New  York,  held  in  1874  and  1S75,  Dr. 
McFerrin  gave    expression   to  the  fraternal   sentiments 


GROWING  CHARITY.  395 

that  glowed  in  his  heart  toward  his  brethren  of  the 
North.  What  a  surprise  and  delight  he  was  to  the 
Northern  men  and  women  who  there  saw  him  for  the 
first  time!  His  hearty  hand-clasps,  his  ready  adaptation 
to  all  occasions,  his  rare  humor  and  quaint  expressions, 
his  sermons  attended  with  the  strange  power  that  none 
could  resist,  completely  captivated  them.  "  If  this  is 
the  sort  of  men  we  have  been  fighting  down  m  the 
South,"  said  they,  "  we  want  to  know  more  of  them ; 
we  are  ready  to  strike  hands  with  them  in  fraternal  cov- 
enant, and  to  take  a  fresh  start  with  them  in  a  new  era 
of  peace,  good-will,  and  progress,  with  the  night  and 
tempest  behind,  and  the  dawn  of  the  brighter  day  illu- 
mining the  eastern  sky." 

On  the  occasion  of  Dr.  McFerrin's  second  visit,  his  old 
friend,  Bishop  Janes,  was  there  in  gracious  mood,  and 
opened  the  fraternal  special  service  with  the  words: 
"Next  to  the  fellowship  of  God  is  the  fellowship  of 
saints,  and  nothing  but  our  spirit  of  love  to  God  will 
transcend  our  love  of  one  another  in  the  spirit  world. 
God  is  love,  and  all  who  are  like  God  are  filled  with  the 
love  of  God  and  love  to  their  brethren.  And  what  is 
true  as  it  respects  individual  Christians  is  equally  true  in 
a  more  general  sense  as  it  respects  the  different  branches 
of  the  Christian  Church.  We  are  just  as  much  inter- 
ested in  the  prosperity  of  every  branch  of  the  Christian 
Church  as  we  are  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  every  mem- 
ber of  that  Church.  Consequently,  it  is  a  great  pleas- 
ure for  us  to  understand  the  condition  of  these  different 
branches  of  the  Church;  and  we  have  met  this  morning 
to  spend  a  little  time  in  inquiring  after  each  other's  wel- 
fare, and  to  hear  from  each  other  respecting  our  spirit- 
ual condition  as  Churches." 


396  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


Among  other  responses,  that  of  Dr.  McFerrin  was 
notable  for  its  powerful  effect  upon  the  vast  audience. 
After  telling  them  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  then  embraced  thirty-seven  Annual  Conferences, 
with  eight  Bishops,  a  membership  of  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand souls  (being  an  increase  of  three  hundred  thousand 
in  ten  years),  four  hundred  thousand  Sunday-school 
scholars,  and  that  the  missionary  work  of  the  Church  was 
making  progress,  he  said :  "  Before  the  war  we  had  a 
great  work  among  the  colored  people.  In  1S60  we  had 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  of  them  in  full 
communion  with  our  Church,  and  we  had  a  large  num- 
ber of  preachers  who  devoted  all  their  time  to  the  work 
of  evangelizing  them.  [Bishop  Janes:  'I  know  that.'] 
You  know  that,  Bishop  Janes;  you  appointed  men  there 
to  that  work.  Planters  sometimes  wrote  to  the  Bishop, 
requesting  him  to  send  a  missionary  to  their  plantations, 
and  promising  to  support  him.  Sometimes  two  or  three 
united  in  the  request  and  promise  of  support,  and  we 
were  devoting  a  great  part  of  the  missionary  money  and 
labor  to  those  people;  and  to-day  these  missionaries  sleep 
in  the  swamps  of  the  South.  I  want  you  to  understand 
that  I  have  preached  hundreds  and  thousands  of  sermons 
to  these  people,  and  have  witnessed  demonstrations  of 
the  power  of  God  among  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
Africa."  After  reciting  other  facts  with  regard  to  the 
work  of  the  Church  in  the  home  and  foreign  fields,  he 
said:  "With  regard  to  spiritual  religion,  I  think  our 
people  love  Jesus.  We  hold  on  to  the  grand  old  Meth- 
odist doctrines  of  justification  by  faith,  regeneration  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  and  holiness 
of  heart  and  life.  There  is  no  department  of  Method- 
ism where  the  ministry  hold  with  greater  pertinacity  the 


GROWING  CHARITV.  397 

peculiar  doctrines  of  Methodism  than  in  the  South.  By 
the  grace  of  God  we  intend  to  maintain  the  old  doctrines, 
to  carry  forward  the  old  standard."  With  regard  to 
fraternity  between  the  two  Churches  he  made  a  most 
emphatic  affirmation  of  his  position,  closing  with  this  re- 
mark: "  I  am  not  much  of  an  enthusiast,  but  just  enough 
to  love  Jesus  and  every  Christian,  and  especially  every 
Methodist,  the  world  over."  Then  came  this  farewell 
touch:  "Now,  brethren,  I  bid  you  good-by.  I  met  an 
aged  friend  yesterday  wrho  extended  his  hand,  saying, 4 1 
want  to  shake  hands  with  you;  I  have  been  reading  your 
sermon.'  I  said  to  him:  «  When  wre  get  to  heaven  come 
and  shake  hands,  and  tell  me  we  met  at  Round  Lake.' 
So  I  say  to  you  all,  when  we  get  on  the  other  shore 
come  up  and  say :  c  How  do  you  do,  Brother  McFerrin  ?  ' 
and  tell  me  we  met  at  Round  Lake.  It  will  add  to  my 
hajzjpiness  in  glory."  There  was  scarcely  a  dry  eye  in 
the  congregation  when  he  sat  down. 

Dr.  McFerrin's  sturdy  denominationalism  never  sunk 
into  actual  bigotry  even  in  the  most  pugnacious  period 
of  his  life.  He  was  a  stalwart  Methodist,  but  he  was 
more — a  robust  Christian.  "  I  love  my  neighbors,  but  I 
love  my  own  family  more,  and  I  love  my  own  wife  bet- 
ter than  any  other  woman  on  earth.  So  I  love  the 
whole  body  of  Christians  of  all  denominations,  but  I 
love  the  Methodists  a  little  more  than  others,"  he  said, 
with  kindly  frankness,  in  one  of  his  speeches  before  a 
mixed  multitude  of  hearers. 

Favored  by  peculiar  circumstances,  the  ministers  of  a 
certain  Church  had  succeeded  in  proselyting  a  number 
of  Methodists  in  Middle  Tennessee  and  North  Alabama, 
among  them  a  preacher  of  some  note.  At  the  session 
of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  held  soon   afterward   in 


393  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Huntsville,  Alabama,  these  facts  were  brought  out  be- 
fore the  body,  and  a  young  preacher,  burning  with  re- 
sentment, cried  out: 

"Dr.  McFerrin,  what  do  you  think  of  proselyting?" 

"What  do  I  think  of  proselyting?"  he  replied,  rising 
to  his  feet.  "That  depends  on  one  condition:  if  the 
proselytes  are  coming  this  way,  it  is  all  right;  but  if  they 
are  going  that  way,  it  is  b-a-d!"  giving  the  last  word 
his  inimitable  nasal  intonation.  The  Conference  laughed, 
and  the  young  brother  said  no  more. 

This  playful  remark  was  not  intended  as  an  expres- 
sion of  approval  of  proselyting,  nor  was  it  so  understood. 
He  only  meant  that  he  was  willing  to  give  and  take  in 
fair  denominational  competition,  and  that  the  Method- 
ists, who  had  made  such  vast  acquisitions  from  the  ranks 
of  other  religious  bodies,  should  be  the  last  to  whine  over 
a  few  perverts  now  and  then.  The  answer  was  manly 
as  well  as  witty.  Methodism  disclaims  proselyting,  and 
its  genius  and  history  are  opposed  to  the  ugly  practice; 
but  it  is  one  of  the  paradoxes  of  ecclesiastical  history 
that  this  very  absence  of  the  proselyting  spirit  and  ex- 
clusive assumption  has  been  one  of  the  chief  factors  in 
its  marvelous  success,  attracting  to  its  communion  and 
holding  in  its  genial  fellowship  the  men  and  women  who 
are  constitutionally  adapted  to  it.  Elective  affinity  asserts 
itself  in  this  matter.  As  a  rule,  people  go  where  they 
belong.  Proselytes  wrenched  from  their  proper  affilia- 
tions by  undue  influences  are  elements  of  weakness 
rather  than  of  strength  to  a  Church.  Whenever  Meth- 
odism becomes  a  proselyting  rather  than  an  evangelizing 
agency,  it  will  have  no  good  reason  to  live  a  day  longer. 
May  that  time  never  come! 

There  was  a  steady  growth  in  Dr.  McFerrin's  frater^ 


GRO  WING  IN  CHARITY.  399 

nal  love  toward  his  brother  Methodists  of  the  North. 
He  was  willing  to  bury  the  dead  past.  "  There  are  a 
few  people,"  he  said  at  Round  Lake,  "  who  write  for 
newspapers,  North  and  South,  that  try  to  stir  up  strife; 
but  don't  take  an  ill-natured  letter  as  an  index  to  the 
heart  of  the  people.  Our  statesmen  and  politicians  are 
coming  together.  The  other  day  the  General  command- 
ing the  post  was  out  with  our  people  to  decorate  the 
graves  of  Confederates  that  were  buried  near  Nashville, 
and  two  days  afterward  the  Governor  and  his  staff  went 
to  the  Federal  Cemetery  and  took  part  in  strewing  flow- 
ers upon  the  graves  of  your  dead.  I  tell  you  they  are 
coming  together  in  feeling,  and  I  don't  envy  the  heart 
of  the  man  who  cherishes  bitterness."  This  feeling 
deepened  to  the  close  of  his  life,  and  found  exj)ression 
on  all  occasions.  When  he  died  the  white  flag  of  peace 
was  afloat. 

In  the  winter  of  1SS1  the  Rev.  Loren  Webb,  a  su- 
perannuated minister  of  the  New  York  East  Confer- 
ence of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  lay  dying  in 
the  railroad  depot  in  Nashville,  Tennessee.  To  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin,  who  had  hastened  to  his  side,  he  said:  "I  want 
a  place  to  die;  I  sent  for  a  Methodist  preacher;  we  are 
a  baud  of  brothers  everywhere.''''  The  Doctor  replied : 
"Brother,  we  are  one  in  love;  and  here  we,  in  the  hour 
of  trial,  know  no  North,  no  South."  A  Northern  Meth- 
odist preacher  (the  Rev.  E.  Warriner)  thus  put  this  af- 
fecting incident  into  verse: 

"WE  ARE  A  BAND  OF  BROTHERS  EVERYWHERE." 

The  watchman  stood  in  silence  on  the  tower, 
For  want  of  strength  to  sound  the  clarion  call; 

He  only  watched  for  the  appointed  hour 
His  station  to  resign  on  Zion's  wall. 


400  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

The  summons  came;  the  faithful  herald  heard; 

God  gave  him  strength  for  one  more  bugle-blast, 
And  whispered  in  his  ear  a  thrilling  word 

To  utter — it  should  be  his  best  and  last. 
The  watchman  put  the  trumpet  to  his  mouth ; 

Webb's  dying  words  rang  out  upon  the  air: 
"John  Wesley's  legions  know  no  North,  no  South; 

We  are  a  band  of  brothers  everywhere." 
No  bickerings  pollute  the  dying  breath, 

No  thought  of  latitude  when  heaven  is  near; 
In  sorrow,  trial,  loneliness,  and  death, 

"  We  are  a  band  of  brothers  everywhere." 
The  bonds  of  holy  brotherhood  are  strong, 

A  common  name  and  heritage  we  share, 
Sections  and  feuds  can  not  estrange  us  long; 

"  We  are  a  band  of  brothers  everywhere." 
No  pass-word,  grip,  or  signal  we  require; 

Distress  may  come,  but  with  it  tender  care; 
Kind  arms  encircle  us  when  we  expire: 

"  We  are  a  band  of  brothers  everywhere." 
O'er  the  wide  world  it  may  be  ours  to  roam, 

And  we  may  fall — it  shall  not  matter  where — 
Some  helper  we  shall  find,  though  far  from  home: 

"  We  are  a  band  of  brothers  everywhere." 
Let  each  in  charity  act  well  his  part; 

All  harsh  upbraidings  let  us  hence  forbear; 
This  watch- word  carry  in  each  loving  heart: 

"  We  are  a  band  of  brothers  everywhere." 

Pass  the  word  along  the  Methodist  lines  all  around 
the  world.  We  are  a  band  of  brothers  everywhere! 
The  day  is  coming  when  some  bard,  inspired  by  the 
same  spirit,  amid  the  still  happier  conditions  that  will 
bless  the  Church  of  God  as  it  nears  its  final  triumph  and 
promised  glory,  will  sing  a  still  nobler  song  with  the 
same  sweet  refrain:  "We  are  a  band  of  brothers 


EVERYWHERE 


I" 


IN  THE  FIRES. 


CLOSELY  following  some  rough  encounters  and 
stinging  criticisms  that  caused  him  no  little  pain,  in 
1SS4,  Dr.  McFerrin  had  a  long  illness.  This  experi- 
ence marked  a  transition  period  in  his  life.  It  disclosed 
to  him  by  anticipation  what  would  be  the  posthumous 
verdict  of  his  fellow- men  concerning  himself.  It  also 
revealed  to  him  more  clearly  than  ever  before  his  per- 
sonal relation  to  the  solemn  facts  of  death,  the  judg- 
ment, and  eternity.  The  eminent  physicians  in  attend- 
ance upon  him  gave  him  up  to  die.  But  he  lived  on 
day  after  day  in  defiance  of  all  the  known  laws  of  life. 
Night  after  night  it  was  said  he  could  not  live  till  morn- 
ing. The  news  of  his  illness  spread  throughout  the 
country,  prayer  was  made  for  him  in  the  churches,  and 
a  profound  concern  was  felt  and  expressed  among  all 
classes  of  people.  The  secular  as  well  as  the  religious 
press  reflected  the  popular  feeling  concerning  the  ven- 
erable sufferer.  Letters  and  telegrams  of  inquiry  and 
sympathy  came  from  the  North  as  well  as  the  South, 
and  when  read  to  him  in  his  lucid  moments  moved  him 
deeply. 

By  some  mistake,  not  at  all  surprising  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, the  announcement  went  forth  in  the  press 
dispatches  that  Dr.  McFerrin  was  dead.  The  report 
flew  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning  over  the  land,  and 
there  was  a  universal  expression  of  sorrow  mingled  with 
the  most  grateful  and  appreciative  tributes  to  his  genius, 
26  (401) 


402  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

character,  and  services.  This  report  reached  his  inti- 
mate friend,  Bishop  Pierce,  at  his  home  in  Georgia. 
"There  must  be  some  mistake,"  said  the  Bishop.  "I 
have  felt  from  the  first  that  this  sickijess  is  not  unto 
death;  he  will  live,  and  not  die."  So  saying,  the  Bishop 
went  into  his  study,  shut  and  locked  the  door,  and  knelt 
in  prayer  before  God.  It  was  perhaps  an  hour  before  he 
came  out,  and  then  his  face  wore  the  peculiar  radiance  that 
many  have  seen  upon  it  when  he  was  fully  under  the  di- 
vine afflatus  in  the  pulpit.  In  the  meantime  the  daily  news- 
paper from  Atlanta  had  come  with  a  fuller  account  of  the 
death  of  his  friend.  "  Dr.  McFerrin  is  surely  dead,"  said 
the  Bishop's  wife;  "  here  are  the  particulars."  The  good 
Bishop  was  staggered  for  a  moment,  but,  rallying  prompt- 
ly, he  said,  with  solemn  emphasis:  "  There  must  be  some 
mistake;  he  is  not  dead.  I  have  frayed  and  gotten  the 
anszver."  The  answer!  it  came  farther  and  quicker  and 
surer  than  any  telegram  from  Nashville  or  Atlanta;  for 
true  prayer  touches  God,  and  God  touches  with  instan- 
taneous response  the  heart  of  faith.  Not  always  does 
the  answer  come  thus  in  direct  and  literal  bestowment 
of  the  thing  asked  for  in  intercessory  supplication,  but 
it  does  come  in  conscious  benediction  to  the  trusting  soul. 
In  the  lives  of  most  men  and  women  who  live  close  to 
God,  and  whose  prayers  are  the  breathings  of  unselfish 
desire  and  unwavering  faith,  there  will  be  experiences 
like  this  of  Bishop  Pierce,  when  the  suppliant  hears  by 
the  inner  ear  the  gracious  whisper  of  the  Still  Small 
Voice:  "  Be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt."  They  who 
are  thus  favored  are  the  holy  ones  whose  humility  is  the 
channel  for  this  blessing,  which  is  -withheld  from  such 
as  might  trample  the  pearl  under  their  feet.  A  letter 
from    Bishop    Pierce   modestly  refers    to  this    incident, 


IN  THE  FIRES.  403 


and  expresses    his   grateful  joy  that  his  friend  was  yet 
alive : 

Sparta,  December  10. 

Dear  Brother:  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul!  How  glad,  how 
thankful  I  am!  When  I  heard  you  were  ill  I  went  to  prayer,  and 
received  the  impression  that  you  would  not  die.  It  has  remained 
with  me.  When  you  were  reported  dead  I  told  my  wife  I  did 
not  believe  it.  I  told  my  wife  it  was  a  mistake.  I  hoped  and 
believed  the  Lord  would  spare  you  to  jour  family,  friends,  and 
Church.  Even  so  it  has  come  to  pass.  God  be  praised!  I  am 
just  starting  for  Alabama.  Have  been  to  Tennessee,  Virginia,  and 
Georgia.  The  Lord  is  in  the  Churches.  He  walks  among  the 
golden  candlesticks,  and  his  angels  are  on  the  wing  again.  The 
reports  will  cheer  you.  The  centenary  year  dawns  brightly,  hope- 
fully.   Hope  we  shall  meet  in  old  Baltimore — Christmas,  1884. 

I  have  not  written  to  you  before  for  reasons  you  will  under- 
stand; but  you  have  been  in  my  heart  and  thoughts  all  the  time. 
You  have  seen  how  the  Church  loves  you,  and  what  the  world 
thinks  of  you.  We  will  all  receive  you  now  as  one  from  the  dead, 
and  we  will  glorify  God  in  you.  Grace,  mercy,  and  peace  be  with 
you!     Love  to  all  yours  from  all  mine.     Affectionately, 

G.  F.  Pierce. 

To  the  friends  who  visited  him  during  this  illness  Dr. 
McFerrin  spoke  freely  concerning  his  Christian  experi- 
ence, and,  when  his  strength  permitted,  joined  devoutly 
in  the  prayers  that  were  offered  at  his  bedside.  A  friend 
who  visited  him  often,  and  talked  freely,  opened  to  him 
a  subject  on  which  Dr.  McFerrin  spoke  seldom,  but  felt 
deeply.  It  was  a  sharp  criticism  in  one  of  the  Chris- 
tian Advocates  pointed  with  raillery.  Though  three  or 
four  years  old,  the  wound  still  bled.  That  it  came  late 
in  life  made  it  none  the  easier  to  bear.  His  friend  heard, 
and  spoke  thus:  "Doctor,  let  me  interpret  to  you  this 
unpleasant  passage  in  your  history."  "  Go  on,"  he  re- 
plied; "thy  servant  heareth."  The  friend  continued: 
"  You  have  been,  and  are,  a  popular  man.     No  man  has 


404  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

more  friends  than  you.  Perhaps  you  idolized  human 
friendship,  made  too  much  of  it,  leaned  too  much  on  it. 
The  Lord  lovingly  rebukes  you.  As  a  Father  he  chas- 
tens, and  would  'perfect  that  which  concerneth  you.' 
Your  truth,  honesty,  purity,  and  uprightness  have  not 
been  assailed;  but  you  have,  nevertheless,  been  keenly 
criticised  on  a  surface-matter  of  character.  Be  thank- 
ful you  have  been  by  grace  kept  from  giving  more  seri- 
ous occasion  of  criticism.  Accept  the  rebuke,  and  profit  by 
it.  Let  'All  my  springs  are  in  thee'  be  your  language." 
The  sick  man  lay  still,  musing  awhile,  and  then  added: 
"  Thank  you.  It  may  be  so;  it  may  be  so.  Thank  you. 
I  will  try  to  give  it  that  turn,  and  profit  by  it.  The  Lord 
permits  it  for  my  good."  This  heart-searching  question 
to  a  dying  man  is  one  which  living  men  would  do  well  to 
consider.  Popularity  involves  peril;  human  praise  may 
become  too  dear  to  the  truest  soul  that  does  not  watch  and 
pray.  What  discoveries  were  then  made  to  Dr.  McFer- 
rin's  soul  we  know  not,  but  it  was  a  faithful  hand  that 
thus  flashed  the  light  into  the  recesses  of  a  brother's  heart. 
Dr.  McFerrin  at  this  time  enjoyed  a  privilege  accorded 
to  but  few  persons — that  of  perusing  his  own  obituary 
literature.  In  a  most  wonderful  manner  he  rallied,  and 
recovered  from  this  attack.  In  the  meantime  the  report 
of  his  death  had  gone  everywhere,  and  elicited  expres- 
sion of  the  grief  and  sense  of  loss  felt  by  his  fellow- 
Christinns  of  all  denominations  and  his  fellow-country- 
men of  all  shades  of  political  opinion.  It  was  touching, 
and  also  a  little  amusing,  to  see  how  he  was  affected  by 
the  reading  of  these  funereal  tributes  to  himself.  He 
read  with  smiles  and  tears.  No  one  had  a  quicker  per- 
ception of  the  ludicrous  side  of  any  incident,  while  he 
was  one  of  the  strong  men  who  readily  melted  into  tears 


7/V  THE  FIRES.  405 


when  his  sensibilities  were  touched.  It  was  evident  that 
he  was  not  without  curiosity  to  know  what  was  said  of 
him  as  a  dead  man,  and  that  he  appreciated  the  anoma- 
lous circumstances  that  placed  him  as  it  were  among  the 
spectators  at  his  own  funeral,  and  enabled  him  to  view 
himself  posthumously.  Among  these  kindly  expres- 
sions none  affected  him  more  deeply  than  that  of  the 
General  Missionary  Committee  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  which  was  in  session  in  New  York  when 
the  report  of  his  death  reached  that  city.  For  sacred 
reasons  this  action  is  recorded  here: 

FRATERNAL  RESOLUTION. 

Resolved,  That  this  General  Committee  have  heard  with  great 
sorrow  of  the  death  of  the  Rev.  J.  B.  McFerrin,  D.D.,  for  some 
time  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  We  highly  appreciate  the 
true  manliness  and  exalted  Christian  character  of  our  departed 
brother  in  Christ;  we  remember  with  gratitude  his  kind  and  fra- 
ternal spirit;  we  knew  his  power  as  a  preacher  of  the  glorious  gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ,  and  as  an  advocate  of  Christian  Missions ;  and, 
as  a  memorial  of  all  this  and  much  more,  we  mournfully  make 
this  minute  upon  our  record.  J.  M.  Reid 

C.  II.  Fowler. 

Please  furnish  a  copy  of  the  above  to  the  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary of  your  Missionary  Society,  and  also  to  the  family  of  Dr. 
McFerrin.  It  was  unanimously  adopted  by  our  General  Com- 
mittee to-day.     By  order  of  the  Committee. 

Bishop  J.  F.  Hurst,  President. 

J.  N.  Fitzgerald,  Secretary. 

Doubtless  the  human  heart  that  was  in  him  was 
soothed  by  the  almost  universal  outburst  of  admiration 
and  affection,  but  he  had  just  heard  too  distinctly  the  sol- 
emn murmur  of  the  Infinite  Sea  to  be  much  affected  by 
human  applause. 

While  he  was  reading  or  hearing  what  was  said  of 


406  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

him  by  others  who  had  thought  him  dead,  we  may  not 
doubt  that  Dr.  McFerrin  himself  reviewed  his  whole 
life — its  ruling  motives,  its  public  acts,  and  its  hidden 
secrets,  known  only  to  God  and  himself.  It  would  be 
profitable  for  every  one  of  us,  from  time  to  time,  to 
apply  the  perspective  to  ourselves,  and  as  it  were  by 
anticipation  take  a  posthumous  look  at  the  records  we 
have  made. 

After  this  sickness  his  step  was  feebler,  his  voice  softer, 
his  face  more  spiritual  in  its  expression,  and  his  whole 
appearance  and  manner  chastened  and  refined.  The 
fires  were  hot,  but  he  came  forth  as  gold. 


DOWN-GRADE  AND  UP-GRADE. 


IT  was  now  down-grade  and  up-grade  with  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin — down-grade  with  his  body,  up-grade  with 
his  soul.      Day  by  day  his   steps  grew  feebler  and    his 
sight  and  hearing  declined.     "  The  old  Doctor  is  fail- 
in^,"  said  many   a   kindly  voice.      He  went  in    and  out 
among  his  brethren  as  aforetime,  but  it  was  seen  by  all 
that  the  strong  man  was  breaking  down  under  the  weight 
of  increasing    infirmities.      His  once   robust   frame  was 
bent;  he  grew  thinner,  and  still  thinner.      But  he  made  a 
manly  resistance  to  his  growing  disabilities.     At  times, 
when  fully  roused  in  the  pulpit  or  on  the  platform,  the 
old  fires  would  burn  within  him,  and    his  voice  would 
ring  out  clear  and  strong,  his  frame  would  become  erect, 
and  there  again  stood  the  old  McFerrin,  the  master  of 
the  arena.     But  it  was  only  for  a  little  season.     When 
the  inspiration  of  the  moment  passed  away  he  was  spent. 
These  spurts  of  energy  were  followed  by  physical  reac- 
tions that  were  alarming  to  his  family.      This  steady  de- 
cline of  his  strength  was  unsuspected  by  those  who  read 
the  articles  which  he  continued  to  publish  in  the  Church 
papers  and  saw  him  only  in  public.     The  mental  energy 
displayed  by  him  on  occasions  that  fully  roused  him  was 
astonishing.     The  memorial  sermon  for  Bishop  Pierce, 
preached  by  him  at  McKendree  Church,  in    Nashville, 
was  a  marvel  of  lucid  statement,  compact  arrangement, 
and  minuteness  of  detail  as  to  facts  and  dates.     Not  a 
line  had  he  in  the  way  of  notes  or  references.     "A  mar 

(407) 


408  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

velous  octogenarian,"  exclaimed  a  distinguished  secular 
journalist  who  was  present.  "  I  know  of  no  living  man 
of  his  years  who  has  such  a  grasp  on  facts  and  whose 
memory  is  so  exact." 

At  a  District  Conference,  held  at  the  Alex.  Green 
Chapel,  near  Nashville — so  named  in  honor  of  Dr.  A.  L. 
P.  Green — McFerrin,  one  hot  Saturday  afternoon,  gave 
the  body  a  surprise  by  making  a  speech  which,  for  im- 
passioned energy,  inimitable  drollery,  and  cutting  yet 
good-natured  satire,  was  equal  to  his  best  efforts  in  that 
line  in  his  prime.  His  object  was  to  rouse  the  Nashville 
Methodists  to  aggressive  effort  to  meet  the  demands  of 
the  hour,  and  especially  to  carry  forward  certain  needed 
enterprises  in  the  way  of  church-building.  After  some 
playful  hits  at  McKendrec,  the  leading  Church,  and  a 
protest  against  the  cramped  quarters  of  the  North  High 
Street  congregation,  and  an  appeal  to  the  stronger 
Churches  in  its  behalf,  he  pictured  an  intelligent  stran- 
ger from  the  North  on  a  visit  to  Nashville,  taking  a 
glance  at  the  city,  in  company  with  a  Nashville  Meth- 
odist. Passing  up  Church  Street,  they  come  in  sight  of 
McKendree  Church.  "  What  church  is  that?"  asks  the 
stranger.  "  That  is  McKendree,  the  old  mother  Church 
of  Nashville  Methodism,"  is  the  answer.  "A  very  re- 
spectable edifice,"  says  the  gratified  visitor.  A  little 
farther  on  the  Watkins  Institute  is  passed  and  compli- 
mented, and  then  reaching  Broad  Street  the  beautiful 
stone  Custom  House,  the  elegant  new  Baptist  Church, 
and  the  Moore  Memorial  Presbyterian  Church  are  all 
viewed  and  praised  in  turn ;  and  just  as  the  stately  towers 
of  Vanderbilt  University  become  visible  to  the  delighted 
visitor,  his  attention  is  attracted  by  an  ugly,  weather- 
beaten,  forlorn-looking  frame  building  on  the  corner  of 


DOWN-GRADE  AND  UP-GRADE.  409 

Broad  Street  and  Belmont  Avenue.  "  What  building  is 
that?"  asks  the  stranger.  The  embarrassed  Nashville 
Methodist  blushes,  hesitates,  and  says:  "  Excuse  me,  sir; 
I  would  rather  not  tell."  "  Why  not?  I  would  like  to 
know,"  urges  the  visitor.  "  Well,"  says  the  Nashville 
Methodist  brother,  reluctantly,  "  that  is  the  West  End 
Methodist  Church,  and  I  was  hoping  that  it  would  es- 
cape your  notice  as  we  passed  it."  "The  West  End!" 
exclaimed  McFerrin,  in  his  shrillest  note,  "the  West 
End!  I  call  it  the  l-a-s-t  end  of  Nashville  Methodism, 
and  a  disgrace  to  the  rich  Methodists  of  the  city.  Yes, 
sir,  a  disgrace  to  every  one  of  you !  "  And  then  such  a 
philippic  of  the  rollicking  order  as  he  poured  forth  was 
never  heard  before  by  the  now  wide-awake  and  delight- 
ed audience,  who  winced  and  laughed  and  cheered,  and 
resolved  in  their  hearts  to  build  a  new  church  for  West 
End.  "The  speech  of  his  life!"  exclaimed  an  old 
preacher,  who  had  laughed  until  he  cried  under  that  ex- 
traordinary outburst.  McFerrin  had  so  often  made 
"  the  speech  of  his  life,"  according  to  the  judgment  of 
men  who  were  under  the  spell  of  his  oratory,  that  this 
remark  was  rather  a  matter  of  course.  This  was  per- 
haps the  last  thoroughly  characteristic,  imfiro?nfitu  speech 
of  this  sort  from  the  old  tribune.  The  fires  of  his  gei.- 
ius  flashed  forth  from  time  to  time,  but  never  so  bright- 
ly again,  for  he  was  on  the  down-grade  physically,  and, 
like  a  volcano  that  had  spent  its  force,  these  bursts  be- 
came fewer  and  feebler  as  the  months  went  by.  It  was 
touching  to  note  how  he  dreaded  total  blindness  as  his 
eye-sight  failed  more  and  more.  He  shrunk  from  that 
trial  with  human  weakness.  Again  and  again  would  he 
revert  to  the  subject  as  if  it  had  a  sort  of  evil  fascination 
for  him.     His  deafness  did  not  seem  to  trouble  him  much 


410  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

so  long  as  he  could  see  the  faces  of  his  friends  and  where 
to  plant  his  feet  in  walking.  His  mother  went  blind  in 
her  later  years,  and  that  was  probably  the  cause  of  his 
painful  fear  for  himself.  With  resolute  purpose,  how- 
ever, he  would  grope  unaided  from  room  to  room  of  the 
Publishing  House,  straining  his  vision  and  listening  in- 
tently to  catch  the  sounds  that  reached  him  so  imperfectly, 
writh  his  right  hand  shading  his  eyes,  and  the  look  that 
was  on  his  wasted  features  making  a  pathetic  appeal  as 
he  stood  waiting  to  hear  the  voices  of  those  he  could  no 
longer  see.  In  walking  the  streets  he  submitted  to  the 
use  of  the  arm  of  a  friend,  but  at  first  with  evident  re- 
luctance. This  was  no  light  cross  to  the  strong,  self- 
acting  man  who  had  so  long  been  accustomed  to  lead 
and  to  be  leaned  on  by  others.  His  mental  energy  and 
love  of  work  kept  him  going,  but  his  vital  forces  were 
nearly  used  up.      The  down-grade  was  unmistakable. 

This  was  on  the  physical  side  only.  Spiritually  his 
movement  w7as  upward.  His  very  features  were  chas- 
tened into  a  serener  and  softened  expression.  As  he 
ceased  to  fret  against  these  disabilities,  accepting  them 
as  the  will  of  God,  the  submission  that  was  in  his  heart 
was  reflected  in  his  face.  The  reader,  if  he  has  ever 
visited  an  asylum  for  the  blind,  has  noticed  the  expres- 
sion of  pathetic  patience  worn  by  these  children  of  af- 
fliction, showing  that  they  have  accepted  their  sad  lot, 
realizing  but  not  rebelling  against  it.  There  was  now 
something  of  the  same  look  in  Dr.  McFerrin's  face  as 
the  world  of  sense  was  being  shut  out  from  him  more 
and  more;  and  as  the  sights  and  sounds  of  earth  were 
dulled  and  dimmed,  the  inner  vision  was  more  open  to 
God,  and  the  inner  ear  quicker  to  catch  his  voice.  There 
was  a  tenderer  and  more  solemn  tone  in  his  preaching, 


DOWN-GRADE  AND  UP-GRADE.  411 

and  often  an  overwhelming  pathos  as  he  spoke  of  his 
old  friends  to  glory  gone  and  of  his  expectation  that  he 
would  soon  join  them  on  the  eternal  shore.  His  prayers 
in  his  family  worship  breathed  more  fervor  and  sweet- 
ness, and  the  spiritual  meanings  of  the  sacred  text  seemed 
to  unfold  themselves  more  readily  to  his  mind.  To  all 
the  members  of  his  household  his  bearing  was  marked 
by  a  solemn  tenderness  indicative  of  the  fact  that  he 
knew  his  stay  with  them  was  to  be  short.  The  little 
children  that  nestled  about  him  seemed  to  feel  instinct- 
ively that  there  was  a  benediction  in  his  presence.  There 
was  another  sign  that  he  was  on  the  up-grade  in  his  re- 
ligious experience.  In  a  newspaper  discussion  which 
he  had  with  his  friend,  the  Rev.  R.  N.  Price,  of  the 
Holston  Conference,  there  was  a  moderation  of  tone 
and  a  gentleness  of  expression  that  showed  that  the 
sharper  angles  of  the  puissant  debater  had  been  rounded 
off  by  time  and  pain  and  abounding  grace,  and  that  while 
his  intellect  was  astonishingly  vigorous  for  a  mail  of  his 
age,  his  spirit  was  growing  more  child-like,  and  there- 
fore more  Christ-like.  His  pulpit  testimonies  were  al- 
ways strangely  powerful,  but  now  they  seemed  to  be 
doubly  so.  Back  of  his  tremulous  words  were  more 
than  sixty  years  of  Christian  experience  and  ministerial 
service;  just  before  him  were  the  realities  of  eternity; 
the  savor  of  the  old  times  of  Methodistic  simjulicity  and 
power  was  in  his  words  and  ways;  and  the  power  of  the 
world  to  come  seemed  to  rest  upon  him  as  he  bore  tes- 
timony for  his  Lord  and  magnified  the  power  of  the 
gospel  to  save  sinners.  How  the  people  wept  under 
these  talks!  And  how  they  would  gather  around  him 
as  he  stood  in  the  chancel,  to  clasp  his  hand  once  more 
and  to  receive  his  blessing !     Never  did  he  preach  more 


412  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

effectively,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  visible  effects. 
His  weakness  was  his  strength.  The  pathos  of  the  bent 
and  wasting  form,  the  failing  voice,  the  dimmed  vision, 
ami  the  halting  step  compensated  for  the  loss  of  some  of 
the  old  power  that  had  shaken  the  multitudes  in  his 
earlier  ministry.  Rather,  it  was  power  in  a  new  form — 
the  weaknesses  of  the  body  transmuted  into  spiritual  force 
by  the  alchemy  of  grace.  The  down-grade  movement 
of  the  frail  and  perishing  body  was  accompanied  by  an 
up-grade  movement  of  his  soul.  As  the  outward  man 
perished,  the  inward  man  was  renewed  day  by  day. 
From  the  date  of  the  sickness  that  came  so.jiear  being 
a  sickness  unto  death  began  a  gentle  descent  to  the  grave 
and  a  more  rapid  upward  spiritual  movement. 


SUNSET  FLASHES. 


LIKE  the  flashes  of  lightning  in  the  western  sky  at 
the  close  of  a  summer  eve  were  the  coruscations 
of  Dr.  McFerrin's  genius  in  his  last  days.  His  interest 
in  the  living  religious  questions  of  the»times  was  as  in- 
tense as  ever.  He  read  the  current  literature  of  his 
Church  and  of  the  Christian  world  in  general,  and  was 
as  ready  as  ever  to  express  his  opinion  and  to  contro- 
vert error  whenever  it  crossed  his  path.  As  aforetime, 
if  in  his  own  ecclesiastical  circle  there  was  any  outcrop- 
ping of  error  he  quickly  dealt  it  a  blow. 

Many  old  men  continue  to  preach,  and  preach  well  in 
an  automatic  way,  making  no  new  thought,  but  running 
smoothly  in  the  grooves  of  their  former  thinking.  Like 
a  neglected  fruit-tree,  a  man  of  this  sort  becomes  barren, 
and  dies  mentally  before  his  time.  The  old  preachers 
who  cease  to  preach  are  apt  to  become  morbid  and  sink 
into  a  gloomy  senility. 

Dr.  McFerrin's  unfailing  popularity  caused  a  demand 
for  his  services  in  the  pulpit  as  long  as  he  could  stand 
on  his  feet  and  articulate  audibly.  His  family  and  friends, 
fearing  the  evil  effects  from  the  reaction  following  the 
mental  and  physical  exertion  to  which  he  was  thus  sub- 
jected, vainly  sought  to  restrain  him.  But  he  persisted 
in  preaching,  astonishing  everybody  by  the  frequency 
and  force  of  his  pulpit  utterances.  Perhaps  he  was 
rio-ht  in  so  doing.  It  may  have  been  a  wise  instinct  that 
warned  him  that  if  he  once  stopped  immediate  collapse 

(413) 


414  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

might  follow.  "  You  do  not  know  how  feeble  he  is," 
said  his  wife,  who  saw  him  as  he  was  at  home,  when  the 
inspiration  of  the  pulpit  was  absent  and  the  energy  of 
his  remarkably  strong  will  was  in  some  degree  relaxed. 
So  he  kept  going  and  speaking,  and  was  everywhere 
listened  to  with  wonder  and  delight. 

At  the  Sea-shore  Camp-meeting,  near  Biloxi,  Mis- 
sissippi, he  preached  to  a  great  concourse  of  people  on 
the  Sabbath-day,  and  at  the  close  of  the  sermon  there 
transpired  one  of  those  scenes  that  so  often  characterized 
his  ministry.  In  the  discussion  of  his  subject  he  had 
been  led  to  draw  a  contrast  between  Christianity  and  in- 
fidelity, presenting  the  peace,  comforts,  and  hopes  of  the 
one,  and  the  emptiness  and  gloom  of  the  other,  in  his  own 
peculiar  way,  and  with  powerful  effect  upon  the  intelli- 
gent and  responsive  audience  that  hung  upon  the  words 
of  the  venerable  servant  of  God  who  told  them  that 
he  had  been  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  and  a  witness  to 
its  divine  power  for  over  threescore  years.  "  They  ask 
us,"  he  said,  "  to  surrender  all  the  blessings  and  hopes 
of  Christianity;  and  what  do  they  offer  to  give  us  in 
return  ?  I  have  at  Nashville  a  house  that  belongs  to 
me,  not  a  modern  house  it  is  true,  but  an  old-fashioned 
dwelling,  large  enough  for  my  family — a  comfortable 
home  for  us  all.  A  fellow  calling  himself  an  architect 
comes  along,  tells  me  that  my  old  house  is  very  badly  con- 
structed, lacking  many  of  the  conveniences  and  adorn- 
ments of  modern  architecture,  and  proposes  to  build  me 
a  better  one.  He  draws  me  a  plan  of  the  new  house 
on  paper,  and  says  he  is  ready  to  begin  it.  Whereupon 
I  set  fire  to  the  old  house  and  burn  it  to  ashes,  leaving 
my  family  and  myself  without  a  shelter,  with  nothing 
but  a  house  on  paper!     And  of  what  use  to  me  or  my 


SUMSET  FLASHES.  415 


family  is  a  house  on  paper,  when  we  have  no  place  to 
live  in?     If  I  were  to  act  that  way,  would  not  every- 
body call  me  a  fool?     And  wouldn't  I  be  a  fool  to  do 
so? "   Yet  that  is  just  what  infidelity  is  asking  you  to  do. 
It 'would  take  from  you  the  deepest  joys  and  sweetest 
hopes  you  possess,  and  offers  you  nothing  in  return- 
nothing  but  the  dreary  negations  of  unbelief  or  the  cer- 
tain doom  of  annihilation.     Are  you  willing  to  accept 
their  offer?     Are  you  willing  to  give  up  your  belief  in 
God,  your  trust  in  Jesus,  your  hope  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  your  expectation  of  a  glorious  immortality? 
All  of  you  who  this  day  purpose  in  your  hearts  to  hold 
on  to  the  Christian  religion  until  infidelity  offers  some- 
thin-  better  in  its  stead,  rise  and  stand  upon  your  feet. 

As  bV  a  simultaneous  impulse  the  vast  crowd  arose, 
one  of  the  first  to  rise  being  Jefferson  Davis,  ex-Presi- 
dent of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  who  occupied  a  place 
near  the  speaker.  The  effect  was  electric,  and  infidelity 
was  at  a  heavy  discount  that  day  among  the  thousands 
of  worshipers  by  the  sea-shore.  _ 

A  similar  scene  was  witnessed  on  the  occasion  of  his 
preaching  at  a  camp-meeting  near  Jackson,  Tennessee, 
Fn  the  summer  of    tSS6.     He  was   at   his   high-water 
mark  in   his  sermon  on  Sunday,  and  the  pathos  of  the 
fact  that   it  was  the  last  time  his  face  would  be  seen 
anion-  his  old  friends  in  West  Tennessee  was  felt  both 
bv  the  speaker  and  the  immense  concourse  of  hearers. 
He  spoke  of  the  old  times,  and  of  the  old  comrades  of  his 
earlier  days  who  had  crossed  over  the  river;  test.fiedo 
the  sufficiency  of  divine  grace  to  convert,  cleanse,  and 
keep  believers;  told  them  that  his  journey  was  nearly 
rim   and  that  lie  was  happy  in  God  and  joyful  through 
hope ;  and  with  streaming  eyes  and  tremulous  tones  called 


416  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

on  all  within  the  sound  of  his  voice  to  meet  him  in 
heaven,  closing  amid  such  weeping  and  shouting  as  is 
seldom  witnessed  more  than  once  in  a  life-time.  That 
oamp-ground  will  be  associated  with  McFerrin's  name 
as  long  as  the  men  and  women  who  heard  that  sermon 
remain  and  the  tradition  of  it  will  go  down  to  their  chil- 
dren. 

A  little  later,  during  the  same  season,  he  was  pres- 
ent at  the  dedication  of  a  new  church  at  Brentwood, 
not  far  from  Nashville.  He  was  so  very  feeble  just 
then  that  it  was  feared  he  would  be  unable  to  preach  the 
dedicatory  sermon,  and  other  preachers  were  present 
ready  to  proceed  with  the  service  in  case  he  should  break 
down.  It  was  with  obvious  difficulty  that  he  ascended 
the  pulpit  steps,  and  he  had  to  avail  himself  of  the  serv- 
ices of  his  brethren  in  the  reading  of  the  Scripture  les- 
sons and  announcing  the  hymns  for  the  occasion.  It  was 
a  very  warm  day,  and  the  house  was  crowded.  He  be- 
gan the  sermon  in  a  weak  and  husky  voice,  his  trembling 
limbs  apparently  scarcely  able  to  support  his  shrunken 
frame.  The  sympathies  of  the  congregation  were  ex- 
cited by  the  appearance  of  the  venerable  man,  and  as 
he  stood  there  among  his  kindred  and  old  friends  a  great 
wave  of  tender  feeling  swept  over  the  audience.  A 
hundred  eyes  grew  moist  at  the  thought  that  his  famil- 
ial form  would  soon  be  no  more  seen  and  his  voice  no 
more  be  heard  among  them.  His  subject  was  u  The 
Church:  Its  Origin,  Nature,  and  Destiny,"  and  the  dis- 
course was  remarkable  for  its  simplicity,  spirituality,  and 
power.  There  was  not  one  ornate  passage  or  rhetorical 
flourish  in  it,  nor  the  least  straining  after  oratorical  or  emo- 
tional effects;  but  his  old-time  power  was  present.  The 
heaving  bosoms  and  tearful  faces  of  the  people  showed 


Sl/JVSET  FLASHES.  417 


that  their  heart-strings  had  been  swept  by  a  master  hand. 
As  he  came  to  the  peroration  his  form  became  erect,  his 
voice  swelled  forth  with  wonderful  clearness  and  strength, 
his  soul  caught  fresh  fire,  his  thought  took  wing,  and  the 
tremulous  old  man  was  transformed  into  a  pulpit  thun- 
derer  whose  eloquence  shook  that  temple  on  the  hill  at 
Brentwood.  The  old  commoner  was  surely  himself 
that  day.  Of  the  hundreds  who  heard  him  there  for 
the  last  time  not  one  could  fail  to  remember  him  as  he 
was  that  hour.  The  pathos  of  his  parting  words,  when 
he  testified  to  the  goodness  of  God  and  the  blessedness 
of  the  Christian  life  after  an  experience  so  long  and  so 
varied,  left  an  impression  which  no  force  or  subtlety 
of  argument  could  have  equaled.  Many  a  saint  took  a 
fresh  start  for  heaven  at  that  dedication,  and  how  many 
sinners  were  convinced  will  be  known  in  "that  day." 

There  was  a  little  flash  of  another  sort,  but  not  less 
characteristic,  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  1SS6.  He 
had  debated  the  question  whether  or  not  he  would  attend 
a  certain  Annual  Conference  to  which  he  had  made 
many  official  visits,  and  from  whose  members  he  had 
received  many  expressions  of  confidence  and  affection. 
In  view  of  the  distance  and  other  considerations,  he  had 
determined  not  to  undertake  the  journey,  when  a  rather 
sharp  criticism  of  certain  features  of  his  administration 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Publishing  House  appeared  in  the 
local  Church  paper  patronized  by  the  Conference  in 
question.  When  the  article  was  read  to  him  he  listened 
attentively  to  the  end,  and  then  said,  emphatically:  "I 
am  going  to  attend  that  Conference,  and  I  will  reply 
to  that  attack  on  the  floor."  He  went,  and  he  made  the 
reply  and  such  a  defense  of  his  official  acts  as  satisfied 
and  silenced  everybody.  His  defense  was,  of  course, 
27 


418  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

rather  caustic   and   aggressive — a   flash  of  the  old  fire 
that  so  quickly  kindled  in  a  debate. 

During  the  autumn  and  winter  of  1SS6,  against  the 
protest  of  his  family  and  friends,  he  attended  the  ses- 
sions of  a  number  of  Annual  Conferences  in  Texas  and 
Arkansas.  Though  more  than  half  blind,  quite  deaf, 
and  heavy  in  movement,  he  undertook  these  long  jour- 
neys alone,  trusting  in  God  and  in  the  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness of  his  fellow-men.  .^o  universal  was  his  acquaint- 
ance that  he  never  lacked  for  a  friendly  arm  in  getting 
on  and  off  the  trains  and  in  going  to  and  from  his  lodg- 
ing-places. After  reaching  the  town  or  city  in  which 
a  Conference  was  in  session  he  had  as  many  guides  and 
helpers  as  there  were  persons  in  attendance,  for  all. felt 
it  to  be  a  pleasure  to  minister  to  him  on  this  "  round," 
which  they  rightly  believed  would  prove  to  be  his  last. 
Never  on  any  former  tour  did  he  more  mightily  move 
the  hearts  of  the  thousands  that  listened  to  his  pulpit 
and  platform  talks.  Feeling  himself  that  he  was  tak- 
ing his  farewell  of  the  brethren,  his  own  soul  overflowed 
with  a  solemn  tenderness  that  affected  all  hearts,  while 
there  was  a  spiritual  power  in  his  words  that  awed  and 
thrilled  the  weeping  assemblies  to  which  he  spoke  and 
with  which  he  left  his  fatherly  benediction.  It  was  a 
singular  thing  to  witness:  the  almost  helpless  old  man 
who  groped  his  way  feebly  about  supported  by  a  friend, 
roused  by  contact  with  exciting  occasions  and  expectant 
crowds,  retaining  his  never-failing  tact,  and  inspired  by 
the  supernatural  energy  of  the  Holy  Ghost — the  master 
of  assemblies,  as  in  the  days  of  his  fullest  strength.  Ev- 
ery sermon  was  a  triumph  of  will-power  under  the  reign 
of  grace.  It  was  sadly  evident,  however,  that  these  were 
indeed  sunset  flashes,  and  that  the  setting  was  near. 


SAFELY  LANDED. 


LIKE  unto  a  great  ship  rounding  to  in  the  harbor 
after  a  stormy  passage,  weather-beaten,  with  sails 
torn  and  cordage  loosened,  but  full-freighted  and  with 
pennant  flying  from  the  topmast,  McFerrin  neared  the 
end  of  his  long  life-voyage.  The  harbor  was  at  hand, 
but  the  winds  were  wild  and  the  waves  rolled  high. 

During  the  winter  of  1SS6-7  it  became  evident  to  all 
who  saw  him  that  the  old  traveler's  journeyings  were 
nearly  ended.  His  infirmities  grew  upon  him  rapidly, 
and  it  was  only  his  extraordinary  will-power  that  kept 
him  up.  It  was  pathetic  to  see  how  the  faithful  old 
servant  of  the  Church  clung  to  his  work,  and  yet  it  was 
at  the  same  time  a  little  amusing  to  see  how  the  old  war- 
horse  would  rouse  up  at  the  sound  of  battle,  when  he 
heard  the  clash  of  swords  in  polemics  or  caught  the 
tramp  of  the  marching  hosts  of  the  Church.  Unable 
to  see  to  read  or  write,  he  secured  the  willing  service  of 
his  beloved  brother,  the  Rev.  A.  P.  McFerrin,  as  a  sort 
of  private  secretary,  and  through  him  he  maintained 
communication  with  friends  and  kept  up  official  corre- 
spondence. The  two  brothers  were  very  unlike — the 
one  a  magnetic,  fluent,  aggressive,  versatile,  popular 
leader  and  master  of  the  platform;  the  other  a  quiet 
thinker,  an  intellectual  philosopher,  who  liked  to  dig 
down  to  the  bottom  of  great  questions,  but  whose  mod- 
esty kept  him  silent  when  men  far  less  knowing  were 
ready  to  talk.     Sharply  contrasted  as  thev  were  in  tern- 

(419) 


420  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

perament,  the  basic  element  in  their  moral  constitutions 
was  composed  of  the  same  granitic  rock,  and  they  were 
equally  sure  to  stand  any  degree  of  pressure  in  their  de- 
votion to  a  principle  or  an  opinion.  The  writings  of 
A.  P.  McFerrin — notably  a  volume  of  sermons  pub- 
lished in  1885 — stamp  him  as  a  real  thinker  and  a  mas- 
ter of  the  sermon-making  art.  Whether  these  sermons 
will  be  read  by  another  generation  we  can  not  say,  but  it 
may  be  safely  affirmed  that  they  are  worthier  of  such 
posthumous  recognition  than  are  many  books  whose  pop- 
ularity is  based  on  elements  of  transient  interest  or  the 
tricks  of  style  that  tickle  the  literary  palates  of  contem- 
poraneous readers,  but  which  in  truth  contain  nothing 
that  will  make  it  worth  while  for  posterity  to  save  them 
from  the  oblivion  that  engulfs  alike  trashy  trifles  and 
harmless  mediocrity.  His  "Sermons  for  the  Times" 
may  go  down  to  other  times  than  these,  for  the  themes 
he  discusses  are  of  eternal  interest,  the  thought  is  robust, 
and  the  style  is  simple  and  pure.  His  little  volume  of 
sacred  poems  has  so  much  of  melody,  Christian  thought, 
and  spiritual  fervor  that  the  reader  recognizes  in  the 
author  a  finely-tuned  soul  that  barely  failed  to  take  a 
place  among  the  singers  in  the  choir  led  by  Charles 
Wesley,  whose  songs  are  girdling  the  globe.  The  two 
brothers  cordially  appreciated  each  other.  The  unself- 
ish and  unconscious  way  in  which  the  one  consented  to 
be  obscured  by  the  other  presented  a  pleasing  illustra- 
tion of  the  power  of  divine  grace  to  hallow  and  exalt 
human  affection.  And  it  was  scarcely  less  delightful  to 
see  with  what  glowing  satisfaction  the  elder  and  more 
famous  brother  greeted  any  expression  of  admiration  for 
the  genius  and  character  of  the  younger.  Under  the 
reign  of  grace  human  nature  rises  to  altitudes  of  moral 


SAFELY  LANDED.  421 

grandeur  prophetic  of  its  sublimer  future  destiny,  and 
preparatory  for  the  higher  fellowship  to  be  attained  by 
the  whole  family  of  God. 

There  was  no  surprise  when  Dr.  McFerrin  failed  to 
make  his  daily  visits  to  the  Publishing  House  and  the 
announcement  was  made  that  he  was  very  ill.  But  the 
popular  solicitude  was  intense.  "  How  is  the  old  Doc- 
tor?" was  the  question  on  almost  every  lip.  Christians 
of  all  denominations  and  citizens  of  all  classes  and  races 
in  Nashville  manifested  the  liveliest  interest  in  his  con- 
dition. His  symptoms  indicated  malarial  fever,  with 
nervous  prostration  and  the  usual  signs  of  the  breaking 
up  of  a  strong  physical  organization.  He  steadily  sunk 
from  day  to  day  until  he  was  at  the  very  point  of  de- 
parture. There  he  stopped,  the  tide  of  life  feebly  ebb- 
ing and  flowing,  at  times  scarcely  the  least  breath  or 
pulse  being  perceptible.  He  was  a  patient  sufferer. 
There  was  a  solemn  tenderness  in  his  speech  that  im- 
pressed every  person  who  entered  the  room  and  looked 
upon  his  sunken  and  pallid  features.  After  lying  thus 
for  some  days,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  he  again  rallied,  his 
wonderful  constitution  making  a  final  effort  to  repel  the 
assaults  of  age  and  disease.  The  absolute  serenity  of- 
his  mind  was  a  notable  factor  in  the  case;  he  expended 
no  vital  force  in  anxieties  or  complainings.  He  declared 
his  perfect  resignation  to  the  will  of  God,  inclining  to  a 
desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ.  "Hitherto  in  my 
sicknesses,"  he  said,  "  I  have  not  felt  that  I  was  going  to 
die,  nor  have  I  desired  to  go.  But  now  I  feel  differently. 
My  work  is  done.  My  eye-sight  and  hearing  are  nearly 
gone;  my  temporal  affairs  are  all  arranged;  my  family 
are  all  provided  for;  the  Publishing  House  is  safe;  my 
way  is  clear,  and  I  am  ready  to  go." 


422  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

There  was  one  day  a  slight  depression  of  his  spirits, 
caused,  as  we  believe,  by  a  final  assault  of  Satan  upon 
the  suffering  servant  of  Christ.  The  writer  of  this  bi- 
ography visited  him  while  he  was  thus  cast  down,  and 
before  leaving  was  requested  to  pray  with  him.  After 
reading  the  concluding  paragraph  of  the  eighth  chapter 
of  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  prayer  was  made 
at  his  bedside.  His  faith  rallied,  the  cloud  lifted,  and  he 
rejoiced  in  the  God  of  his  salvation.  In  a  little  while 
his  nephew,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  P.  McFerrin,  a  devout 
man  and  a  sweet  singer,  came  in,  and  sung  the  hymn  : 

And  let  this  feeble  body  fail, 
And  let  it  droop  and  die. 

The  aged  sufferer,  in  faltering  accents,  joined  in  the 
song,  his  eyes  swimming  in  tears,  and  his  face  beaming 
with  the  holy  joy  that  now  filled  his  soul. 

As  he  lay  thus  poised  between  life  and  death,  the 
saintly  William  Burr,  of  the  Tennessee  Conference,  lay 
dying  in  a  suburb  of  the  city.  They  were  intimate 
friends  and  beloved  yoke-fellows  in  the  gospel.  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin had  presided  at  the  Quarterly  Conference  at 
which  Burr  was  licensed  to  preach,  in  1S39.  The  two 
friends  remembered  each  other  in  their  affliction,  and 
held  a  telephonic  correspondence  that  was  like  the  sig- 
naling of  storm-tossed  mariners  as  they  neared  the  long- 
sought  haven: 

BURR  TO  McFERRW. 

How  are  you,  this  morning?  I  trust  you  are  better.  I  am 
still  very  sick,  and  don't  know  what  the  result  may  be;  but,  liv- 
ing or  dying,  my  whole  trust  is  in  Jesus  my  Saviour.  If  I  should 
be  called  to  his  kingdom,  I  trust  you  will  meet  me  there.  You 
brought  me  into  the  Conference,  and  watched  over  me  like  a  fa- 
ther.    Pray  for  me  to  the  last.     Glory  to  God  in  the  highest! 

Wm.  Burr. 


SAFEL  T  LANDED.  423 

McFERRIN'S  ANSWER. 

Dear  Brother  Burr:  Your  welcome  message  received.  I  am 
improving,  and  may  recover,  but  the  will  of  God  be  done.  For  me 
to  live  is  Christ,  to  die  is  gain.  Thank  God  for  your  faith  and 
victory  over  the  fear  of  death!  Hold  to  Jesus.  He  is  able,  and 
will  save  you.  We  have  long  been  friends  on  earth;  we'll  meet 
in  heaven.  The  Lord  be  with  you.  Glory  to  God  in  the  high- 
est! Yours  affectionately,  J.  B.  McFerrin. 
BURR  TO  McFERRIN.—NO.  2. 

Dear  Dr.  McFerrin :  I  am  still  alive,  but  do  not  know  how 
long  I  can   stay  here.     I   am    still  trusting  in   the    Saviour,  and 
am  happy  in  his  love.     I  have  great  confidence  in  our  Method- 
ism and  in  the  Church  generally  in  the  world.         Wm.  Burr. 
McFERRIN  TO  BURR— NO.  2. 

Dear  Brother  Burr:  You  are  on  the  rock.  Jesus  is  the  sure 
foundation.  Methodism  is  Christianity  in  earnest.  We  can  adopt 
Mr.  Wesley's  language :  "  The  best  of  all  is,  God  is  with  us."  Christ 
says :  "  I  am  with  you  alway."  I  rejoice  in  Christ.  Praise  the 
Lord!  J.  B.  McFerrin. 

Burr  first  obtained  the  prize.  He  died  April  3,  1SS7, 
and  Dr.  McFerrin  attended  the  funeral  of  his  friend  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  5th,  at  Hobson  Chapel,  and  took 
part  in  the  solemn  services  of  the  occasion.  The  sor- 
rowing people  were  awe-struck  at  his  appearance.  The 
pallor  of  death  was  on  his  face,  and  it  bore  the  traces  of 
the  intense  suffering  he  had  undergone,  while  it  was  lit 
up  with  the  strange  illumination  that  at  times  comes  over 
the  features  of  dying  saints.  A  spell  was  on  the  hearts 
of  the  people  as  he  spoke.  It  was  a  bright  afternoon 
in  the  early  spring;  the  warm  south  wind  gently  stirred 
the  peach-blooms,  and  the  birds  were  singing  in  the 
trees— all  nature  attuned  to  the  spirit  of  the  hour. 
When,  after  speaking  of  the  true  nobility,  saintliness, 
and  fruitfulness  of  the  life  of  his  friend  and  son  in  the 
gospel,  Dr.  McFerrin  said  in  trembling  tones,  "  William, 


424  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

farewell!"  and  sat  down  overcome,  the  strongest  men 
present  wept.  At  the  close  of  the  services,  by  an  irre- 
sistible impulse  the  people  pressed  forward  to  touch  his 
hand,  and,  unable  to  repress  the  emotion  which  had  been 
so  deeply  stirred  at  seeing  him  once  more,  some  of  them 
gathered  him  in  their  arms  and  wept  aloud.  They 
greeted  him  as  one  who  had  risen  from  the  dead,  and 
the  solemnity  and  tenderness  of  the  meeting  were  in- 
tensified by  the  conviction  that  they  would  see  his  face 
no  more  until  they  met  him  in  the  world  of  spirits. 

The  flame  of  life  flickered  up  fitfully  for  a  few  days, 
and  then  he  was  again  brought  to  his  bed,  to  rise  no 
more.  The  details  of  the  physical  struggle  would  be 
painful,  but  the  triumph  of  his  faith  was  graciously 
complete.  "  He  will  be  likely  to  suffer  much  before  he 
dies,"  said  Dr.  Hardin,  the  skillful  physician  who  at- 
tended him  with  a  devotion  that  was  almost  filial;  "the 
very  strength  of  his  magnificent  constitution  necessi- 
tates a  hard  struggle  in  its  dissolution.  His  frame  is 
strong  at  every  point;  he  has  never  exhausted  his  vital 
forces  by  any  evil  habits,  and  this  sickness  is  therefore  a 
general  break-down  of  his  whole  organism."  One  organ 
after  another  was  attacked — his  lungs,  his  stomach,  his 
heart,  and  at  last  his  brain.  "  O  Lord,  give  me  a  peace- 
ful moment  in  which  to  die,"  was  a  prayer  whispered 
by  him  at  midnight,  as  the  watchers  sat  and  waited  for 
the  end.  His  devoted  wife  kept  her  place  day  and  night, 
taking  little  time  for' sleep  or  rest,  the  silent  tears  show- 
ing the  anguish  of  her  faithful  heart.  His  children — 
Mrs.  Anderson,  Mrs.  Bryan,  Mrs.  Sowell,  Mrs.  Yar- 
brough,  the  Rev.  John  A.  McFerrin,  and  his  sons-in- 
law,  James  Anderson,  J.  H.  Yarbrough,  the  Rev.  P. 
A.  Sowell,  and  W.  R.  Bryan,  were  with  him,  ministering 


SAFELY  LANDED.  425 

to  him  with  unwearying  watchfulness  and  tenderness. 
They  all  felt  and  expressed  special  gratitude  that  he  was 
permitted  to  die  at  home,  having  had  painful  apprehen- 
sions that  he  would  come  to  his  death  while  on  one  of 
his  distant  journeys.  His  thoughts  were  given  to  the 
Church  to  the  very  last,  a  smile  of  satisfaction  spreading 
over  his  features  at  any  brief  item  of  good  news  from 
the  preachers  or  any  department  of  the  Church's  work. 
When  told  from  day  to  day  that  all  was  right  at  the 
Publishing  House,  and  that  good  news  was  coming  in 
from  the  laborers  in  all  parts  of  the  Church,  he  thanked 
God  in  whispers  as  he  lay  there  laboring  for  breath. 
This  ruling  passion  of  his  life  expressed  itself  in  the  re- 
mark made  to  his  preacher-son,  who  had  staid  by  his 
bedside  all  the  week  until  Saturday  morning:  "My  son, 
I  feel  a  little  stronger,  and  you  had  better  return  and  fill 
your  appointment  to-morrow.  If  while  you  are  away, 
John,  I  should  happen  to  slip  off,  you  know  where  to 
find  me."  In  his  delirium,  toward  the  last,  his  wander- 
ing speech  was  about  what  lay  nearest  to  his  heart.  He 
spoke  of  the  Publishing  House  that  he  had  borne  as  a 
burden  for  so  many  years,  then  he  imagined  himself  to 
be  pleading  for  Missions  in  the  West,  and  then  he  would 
be  talking  to  his  dear  dead  son,  Jimmie,  for  whom  he 
had  never  ceased  to  grieve.  Who  will  say  that  the  ten- 
der words  were  lost  in  empty  air?  Who  can  say  what 
invisible  presences  thronged  that  chamber  whence  the 
great  soul  was  about  to  take  its  flight  to  God?  A  little 
after  midnight,  May  10,  1SS7,  as  the  watchers  sat  or 
stood  waiting  in  silence,  without  a  struggle,  he  died, 
and  upon  the  soul  of  John  B.  McFerrin,  the  great  com- 
moner of  Southern  Methodism,  burst  the  mystery  anc' 
glory  of  immortality. 


426  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

DR.  McFERRIN"1  S  FUNERAL. 

The  funeral  of  Dr.  McFerrin  took  place  at  McKen- 
dree  Church,  Nashville,  at  10  o'clock  A.M.,  Wednes- 
day, May  II,  1SS7.  The  great  concourse  of  people 
present  showed  the  profound  veneration  and  affection 
felt  for  him  in  the  community  in  which  he  had  lived  so 
long.  Every  seat  in  the  .spacious  auditorium  was  filled, 
and  the  vestihule  and  aisles  were  also  crowded  with  citi- 
zens, who  stood  during  the  whole  of  the  solemn  and 
impressive  services.  The  pall -bearers  were:  Judge 
James  Whitworth,  L.  D.  Palmer,  Esq.,  Dr.  William  H. 
Morgan,  Samuel  J.  Keith,  Esq.,  Rev.  W.  C.  Johnson^ 
D.D.,John  A.  Carter,  Esq.,  T.  D.  Fite,  Esq.,  Judge  E. 
H.  East,  John  McFerrin  Hudson,  Esq.,  Chancellor  L. 
C.  Garland,  and  N.  Baxter,  Jr. 

Bishop  II.  X.  McTyeire,  Bishop  A.  W.  Wilson,  Bish- 
op R.  K.  Hargrove,  Rev.  J.  D.  Barbee,  D.D.,  Rev.  O. 
P.  Fitzgerald,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  Charles  Taylor,  D.D., 
took  part  in  the  services.  It  was  a  special  request  of 
Dr.  McFerrin  that  the  exercises  should  be  simple  and  un- 
ostentatious. "  Give  me,"  he  said,  "  the  burial  of  a 
Methodist  preacher.  Let  no  solo  be  sung  at  my  funeral. 
Let  old  Methodist  hymns  be  sung  to  the  old  tunes  famil- 
iar to  our  people."  His  wish  was  followed,  and  the 
hymns  that  he  himself  had  used  in  burying  a  great  com- 
pany of  the  holy  dead  who  had  gone  before  him  were 
sung.  By  his  special  request  the  hymn  beginning, 
"  Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above,"  was  "  lined," 
and  the  vast  congregation  swelled  the  melody  of  the 
old  tune  whose  sacred  associations  powerfully  affected 
many  hearts.  The  Scripture  lessons  prescribed  in  the 
solemn  Ritual  of  the  Church  were  read,  and  extempo- 
raneous   prayer  was    offered.      The    hymn    beginning, 


SAFELY  LANDED.  427 

"And  let  this  feeble  body  fail,"  was  sung  to  the  familiar 
tune  hallowed  by  the  use  of  the  fathers. 

Christians  of  all  denominations  and  all  classes  of  citi- 
zens united  in  this  memorial  service.  It  was  noticed  that 
an  unusually  large  number  of  aged  persons  were  pres- 
ent— gray-haired  men  and  women,  who  had  come  with 
sad  hearts  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  their  love  and  grat- 
itude to  their  early  friend. 

A  long  procession  followed  the  body  to  Mount  Olivet, 
and  it  was  laid  to  rest  on  one  of  the  main  avenues,  to 
await  the  resurrection.  It  is  a  beautiful  spot,  looking  east- 
ward, catching  the  first  beams  of  the  rising  sun,  where 
among  the  oaks  and  poplars  the  winter  winds  sigh  their 
requiems  and  the  spring  birds  warble  their  melodies. 


THE  MAN  ALL  ROUND. 

As  a  preacher  McFerrin  takes  rank  among  the  first.  If 
eloquence  in  the  pulpit  is.to  be  measured  by  the  effects 
proceed,  no  one  will  deny  that  he  possessed  that  pre- 
cious gift.  The  popular  verdict  was  that  he  was  a  great 
preacher,  and  the  people  never  fail  at  last  to  assign  each 
man  his  proper  place.  They  never  forgot  his  sermons. 
His  texts,  his  arguments,  and,  most  of  all,  his  illustra- 
tions, clung  to  their  memories.  His  quaint  sayings  and 
homely  apothegms  circulated  among  them  freely.  The 
tremendous  effects  of  his  special  efforts  on  popular  occa- 
sions were  the  wonder  of  his  contemporaries,  and  will 
furnish  thrilling  traditions  to  their  descendants.  But 
how  happened  it  that  a  man  so  audaciously  unconven- 
tional, so  full  of  humor,  and  often  so  irrepressibly  and 
irresistibly  droll  on  the  platform,  was  clothed  with  so 
much  spiritual  power  in  the  pulpit?     The  form  of  the 


428  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

question  furnishes  the  answer:  he  possessed  genuine 
spiritual  power.  The  plain  truth  of  the  gospel,  with 
the  attesting  energy  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  was  his  sole  de- 
pendence. He  never  took  a  fanciful  text,  nor  strained 
after  a  fanciful  interpretation  of  a  text.  Repentance 
toward  God,  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  a  new  heart 
and  a  new  life,  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  giving  the  con- 
sciousness of  a  present,  full,  and  free  salvation,  growth 
in  grace,  victory  over  sin  and  death — these  were  his 
themes.  He  preached  the  gospel ;  the  Lord  worked  with 
him,  and  confirmed  his  word  with  signs  following.  He 
did  not  aim  to  preach  great  sermons.  He  had  no  weak- 
ness for  rounded  periods,  tricks  of  alliteration,  adjec- 
tival floridness,  or  mere  epigrammatic  smartness  of  ex- 
pression. The  place  was  too  sacred,  the  business  before 
him  too  solemn  for  any  lightness  of  that  sort.  Never 
did  a  man  who  bore  himself  so  independently  toward 
men  bear  himself  more  humbly  toward  God.  He  ex- 
hibited that  fear  of  the  Lord  which  is  the  beginning  of 
true  wisdom,  that  profound  and  unfailing  reverence  and 
humility  which  abides  with  him  who  has  seen  himself 
as  a  sinner  in  contrast  with  the  Holy  One  in  whose  sight 
t*he  very  heavens  are  unclean,  and  in  whose  presence  the 
angels  veil  their  faces.  His  prayers  were  the  breathings 
of  a  soul  that  lay  low  at  the  feet  of  his  Lord  and  voiced 
its  wants  and  its  praises  and  thanksgivings  in  the  sim- 
plest words.  His  prayers  were  spoken  to  the  prayer- 
hearing  God.  He  never  orated  or  exhorted  on  his  knees. 
His  power  in  prayer  was  great  because  he  really  prayed. 
A  real  prayer  is  a  great  thing;  it  moves  heaven  and 
earth.  The  power  that  was  in  his  prayers  was  the  power 
that  was  in  his  sermons,  and  it  was  supernatural.  He 
prayed  and  preached  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and 


SAFELY  LANDED. 


429 


of  power.  The  gospel,  as  preached  by  him  for  more 
than  sixty  years,  was  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation— 
to  how  many  redeemed  souls  will  be  known  only  in  the 
day  that  shall  declare  all  things. 

As  a  writer,  it  is  not  easy   to  define  the  quality  and 
value  of  Dr.  McFerrin's  work.     He  wrote  much,  and 
effectively.      The  doctrines   of    Methodism,   the   living 
issues  of  the  day  in  the  religious  world,  and  sketches  of 
travel  in  his  frequent  journeyings,  were  the  subjects  that 
most  employed  his  pen  as  an  editor.      The  value  of  his 
controversial  writings  consisted  not  in  the  display  of  re- 
markable scholarship,  nor  in  the  originality  of  his  ideas, 
or  the  force  of  his  logic;  but  rather  in  his  homely,  direct 
presentation  of  his  side  of  all  questions  in  the  vernacu- 
lar of  the  people.     He  never  weakened  his  cause  by  in- 
geniously forcing  a  doubtful  text  to  do  doubtful  service 
for  a  dogma  or  a  notion.     He  used  only  guns  that  had 
been  tested,  and  that  did  execution  only  at  their  muzzles. 
His  proof-texts  were  such  as  had  been  proven.     He  kept 
the  beaten  path,  and  so  never  lost  himself  or  his  readers  in 
a  chase  after  novelties.     Metaphysics  he  despised.     They 
were  wasted  on  him,  and  he  did  not  waste  them  on  oth- 
ers.    He  was  apt  to  bring  down  any  knight  who  came 
at  him  mounted  on  a  metaphysical  charger  or  walking 
on  rhetorical  stilts.     He  did  it  by  hitting  him  hard  with 
a  well-tried  Bible  text,  or  by  a  shrewd  puncture  of  an 
inflated  sentence,  or  by  a  sharp  assault  on  some  unguard- 
ed position,  or  by  a  facetious  allusion  to  some  unwise  or 
indefensible  saying.      So  he   fought  over  all  the  ques- 
tions that  were  debated  in  his   circle  in  his   day.      The 
mass  of  his  Methodist  constituency  thought  him  invin- 
cible, and  he  agr^d  with  them.     If  his  logic  was  not 
unanswerable,    his    spirit    was    unconquerable.     When 


430  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

McFerrin  was  at  the  front  the  Methodist  forces  felt- 
secure.  Men  of  superior  scholarship  in  these  more 
peaceful  times  might  easily  be  led  to  undervalue  his 
services  as  the  champion  of  his  Church.  His  methods 
were  eminently  successful ;  the  cause  he  defended  rapid- 
ly gained  strength,  and  held  what  it  gained.  He  lived 
to  see  the  organization  that  was  fighting  for  its  life/when 
he  joined  it  the  strongest  of  all  in  the  vast  region  where 
he  labored  and  led  the  advancing  columns  of  Methodism. 

The  methods  of  his  life  were  not  favorable  to  book- 
making,  even  had  he  been  ambitious  of  achievement  in 
that  line.  He  was  a  man  of  action,  and  though  he  did 
much  hard  work  as  an  editor  he  could  never  be  held 
down  to  the  writer's  desk.  He  must  travel,  he  must 
preach,  he  must  mingle  with  the  people.  He  was  not 
intended  to  be  a  recluse,  a  book-man,  or  a  "  literary  "  man 
in  any  strict  sense  of  the  word.  He  had  it  in  his  heart 
to  write  a  book  on  Methodist  doctrine  which  would  be 
a  breakwater  against  heresy  after  he  was  dead.  But  he 
never  found  time  for  it;  or  it  may  be  that  he  concluded 
that  the  work  had  been  so  well  done  by  others  that  he 
had  no  call  to  undertake  it. 

The  "  History  of  Methodism  in  Tennessee  "  was  his 
one  achievement  in  book-making.  The  value  of  this 
work  can  be  fully  appreciated  only  by  one  who  is  spe- 
cially interested  in  the  historical  facts  that  lie  scattered 
here  and  there  throughout  the  wide  field  of  Southern 
Methodism,  of  which  Tennessee  Methodism  was  a  ra- 
diating center.  The  opening  chapters  contain  interest- 
ing and  valuable  historical  and  geographical  information 
of  a  general  character,  and  the  narrative  of  the  intro- 
duction and  spread  of  Methodism  is  told  in  a  straight- 
forward way,  and    the   chronological   unities   are   well 


SAFELT  LANDED.  431 

preserved.  Liberal  use  was  evidently  made  of  the  Gen- 
eral Minutes,  while  his  own  extensive  and  minute  per- 
sonal knowledge  of  men  and  events  imparted  special  in- 
terest and  guaranteed  fidelity  to  the  minor  as  well  as  the 
larger  facts  of  history.  Of  the  philosophy  of  the  move- 
ment and  its  wider  relations  he  says  but  little.  To  him 
Methodism  was  simply  Christianity  on  the  march,  with  a 
glad  gospel  for  all  men,  and  he  only  wished  to  tell  what 
was  done  and  who  did  it.  The  men  who  shall  hereafter 
write  or  study  Church  history  will  not  pass  by  these  vol- 
umes thrown  off  as  a  labor  of  love  by  a  busy  man  who 
made  more  history  than  he  wrote. 

As  a  platform  speaker  his  influence  was  extraordinary, 
as  his  power  was  almost,  if  not  altogether,  unequaled. 
It  has  often  been  said  that  he  was  the  best  platform 
speaker  in  the  United  States.  If  this  were  asserted 
here,  there  would  doubtless  be  many  to  rise  up  at  once 
and  contest  the  claim.  At  the  mere  suggestion  of  the 
matter,  what  a  galaxy  of  brilliant  names  flashes  before 
the  mind!  Among  his  contemporaries  were  such  men, 
among  politicians,  as  Clay  and  Corwin  and  Wise  and 
Colquitt  and  Vance  and  Prentiss  and  Breckinridge  and 
Choate  and  Yancey  and  Phillips  and  Douglas  and  Lin- 
coln and  Andrew  Johnson  and  Hill  and  Baker  and  Hen- 
dricks; and,  among  preachers,  Beecher  and  Simpson  and 
Pierce  and  Curry  and  Palmer  and  Vincent  and  Jones 
and  Moody  and  Hoge  and  Hall  and  Deems  and  Wilson, 
and  others  whose  genius  was  the  admiration  of  their 
fellow-countrymen,  and  some  of  whom  achieved  inter- 
national renown.  But  take  John  B.  McFerrin  when  in 
the  right  mood — and  he  was  seldom  in  any  other  mood 
so  far  as  readiness  for  the  platform  was  concerned — and 
put  him  up  before  a  promiscuous  audience,  with  a  topic 


432  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

that  "  sprung  "  him,  and  he  would  capture  the  occasion, 
carrying  the  crowd  and  making  himself  the  hero  of  the 
hour.  How  quickly  did  the  assembled  representatives 
of  the  Methodisms  of  the  world  at  the  London  Ecu- 
menical Conference  recognize  in  him  a  master  of  assem- 
blies! And  so  it  was  at  the  Centennial  of  American 
Methodism  at  Baltimore,  of  which  he  was  by  common 
consent  the  electric  center.  When  the  brilliant  and  er- 
ratic Henry  Ward  Beecher  lectured  on  "Evolution"  in 
the  Masonic  Theater  in  Nashville,  in  1SS5,  Dr.  McFer- 
rin  sat  in  the  gallery  and  listened  to  that  remarkable 
effort,  which  was  a  compound  of  crude  science  and  back- 
slidden theology.  "  I  would  like  to  have  had  fifteen 
minutes  in  which  to  reply  to  him,"  said  the  old  Doctor 
next  day,  and  the  battle-blaze  was  in  his  eye  as  he  spoke. 
Such  a  reply  as  he  would  have  made  to  that  lecture  be- 
fore that  audience  would  have  been  worth  hearing. 
The  mental  verdict  which  a  large  majority  had  already 
pronounced  against  the  unproved  hypotheses  and  far- 
fetched presumptions  of  the  recalcitrant  son  of  Lyman 
Beecher  would  have  been  emphasized  in  a  way  that  none 
present  could  ever  have  forgotten.  Beecher  and  McFer- 
rin!  the  one  a  comet  flaming  in  lurid  and  lessening  splen- 
dors into  the  deepening  night;  the  other  a  fixed  star  that 
will  shine  on  in  its  place  in  unfading  refulgence. 

The  personal  influence  of  Dr.  McFerrin  was  extraor- 
dinary. His  range  of  personal  friendships  was  wide, 
and  his  positive  character  indelibly  impressed  itself  even 
upon  casual  acquaintances.  What  multitudes  of  per- 
sons, young  and  old,  felt  his  touch  socially,  and  were 
the  better  for  it,  none  can  tell.  He  never  laid  aside 
his  ministerial  character,  nor  lowered  the  dignity  of  his 
sacred  office       The   lanoruasre  of  St.  Paul  might   have 


SAFELY  LANDED.  433 

been  used  by  him  without  immodesty  or  presumption: 
"Now  thanks  be  unto  God,  which  always  causeth  us 
to  triumph  in  Christ,  and  maketh  manifest  the  savor  of 
his  knowledge  by  us  in  every  place."  (2  Cor.  ii.  14.) 
But  while  he  deported  himself  as  became  a  minister  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  he  was  as  far  as  possible  removed 
from  all  sanctimoniousness  and  morbidness  and  asceti- 
cism and  repellent  gloom. *  His  religion  was  of  the 
hearty,  wholesome  sort.  It  had,  if  the  expression  might 
be  allowed,  a  natural  flavor — that  is  to  say,  it  was  the 
normal  expression  of  a  hearty  nature,  whose  natural 
sympathies  were  refined  and  intensified  by  grace  abound- 
ing. His  rare  social  gifts  were  laid  upon  the  altar  of 
Christian  service.  In  ordinary  conversation  he  had  the 
happy  art  of  interjecting  quaint  apothegms  that  embod- 
ied an  ethical  or  spiritual  truth  in  its  practical  bearings, 
or  of  making  a  hortatory  suggestion  so  pertinently  that 
it  could  not  be  evaded,  and  yet  so  pleasantly  that  no 
offense  could  be  taken.  At  the  bedside  of  the  sick  and 
the  dying  he  exhibited  the  true  pastoral  instinct,  and 
none  knew  better  what  to  say  and  how  to  say  it  in  the 
presence  of  suffering  and  in  prospect  of  death.  His 
prayers,  always  characterized  by  simplicity,  directness, 
and  fervor,  on  such  occasions  were  specially  noted  for 
their  brevity  and  effectiveness,  taking  the  straightest 
line  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  and  sufficient 
Saviour  of  sinners.  The  name  of  Jesus  was  to  him  the 
name  of  power,  and  it  was  oftenest  on  his  lips  in  prayer 
and  speech.  The  music  of  that  name  soothed  and 
cheered  the  spirits  of  many  a  dying  saint  to  whom  he 
ministered  the  true  consolations  of  the  gospel.  In  hun- 
dreds of  families  and  with  thousands  of  persons  he  had 
thus  in  seasons  of  sickness,  death,  and  sorrow,  formed 
28 


434  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN 

relations  that  gave  him  a  sure  and  sacred  influence  for 
good  which  he  used  with  unfailing  tact,  fidelity,  and  suc- 
cess. 

In  his  family  life  his  faithfulness  and  force  of  Chris- 
tian character  were  graciously  rewarded.  He  saw  the 
desire  of  his  heart — the  conversion  of  his  children  and 
that  of  almost  all  of  his  extensive  family  circle.  The 
inmates  of  his  home  loved*  him,  revered  him,  and  be- 
lieved in  him.  Children  are  keen-eyed;  they  are  dis- 
cerners  of  spirits;  their  instincts  tell  them  where  to  look 
for  kindness  and  goodness.  They  loved  Dr.  McFerrin, 
and  to  every  one  of  his  grandchildren  who  was  old 
enough  to  remember  him  as  he  was  in  his  later  years 
the  image  of  his  benignant  face  and  the  remembrance 
of  his  tender  caresses  and  loving  words  will  be  a  life- 
long benediction.  Among  the  photographs  of  him  taken 
in  his  later  years  there  was  one  that  represented  him  sit- 
ting with  a  little  grandson  on  his  knee,  which  impressed 
the  beholder  as  the  ideal  embodiment  of  patriarchal  ten- 
derness and  infantile  trust.  It  would  make  a  picture 
worthy  to  be  put  on  canvas  by  a  great  painter. 

Of  the  quality  of  Dr.  McFerrin's  work  along  all 
these  lines  of  activity  and  influence  the  reader  of  these 
pages  has,  it  may  be  hoped,  some  proper  conception. 
To  get  an  idea  of  the  extent  of  these  labors  we  must 
bear  in  mind  both  the  extraordinary  length  of  his  min- 
isterial service  and  the  almost  unexampled  energy  ex- 
hibited by  him  in  performing  his  work.  A  quenchless 
zeal  worked  through  an  almost  tireless  body.  In  the 
more  abundant  labors  of  his  ministry  he  was  a  true  suc- 
cessor of  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  and  of  the 
founder  of  Methodism.  He  was  moved  by  the  same 
constraining  power — the  love  of  Christ. 


BISHOP  McTYEIRE'S  FUNERAL  SERMON. 


Text:  "  For  David,  after  he  had  served  his  own  generation  by  the  will  of 
God,  fell  on  sleep."     (Acts  xiii.  36.) 

MORE  than  sixty  years  ago  God  gave  to  this  Church  and  to 
this  people  a  servant  to  serve  you  in  your  best  and  highest 
interests.  After  proving  himself  good  and  faithful,  he  has  fallen 
on  sleep,  and  we  meet  to  mourn  and  to  bury  him. 

Forget  not  to  be  thankful  for  this  gift,  and  that  God  endued 
him  with  such  grace  and  spared  him  to  you  so  long.  Few  of  this 
vast  congregation  had  been  born  when  he  whose  body  lies  before 
us  began  his  active  ministry.  He  received  the  parents  of  many 
of  vou  into  the  Church,  baptized  your  households,  and  buried 
your  dead.  In  the  power  of  the  Spirit  he  has  preached  repent- 
ance and  pointed  to  the  cross  of  Christ.  He  has  promoted  good 
and  restrained  evil;  reclaimed  the  erring,  comforted  the  mourner, 
and  instructed  the  ignorant.  In  every  form,  by  wise  precept  and 
by  spotless  example,  he  has  shown  unto  you  the  way  of  salvation. 
In  perplexity  you  sought  him  for  counsel ;  in  trouble,  for  sympa- 
thy ;  in  want,  for  help.  His  exceeding  common  sense  and  great 
kindness  of  heart  never  failed  you. 

While  he  has  gone  to  give  his  account  to  the  Master,  we  may 
well  take  account  of  our  loss  in  such  a  servant. 

He  laid  himself  out  for  the  benefit  of  "  his  own  generation;" 
and  this,  and  the  way  he  did  it,  we  may  well  believe,  was  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  God.  He  lived  not  for  himself,  neither  did  he 
project  his  benevolence  so  far  into  the  uncertain  future  as  to  die 
a  debtor  to  the  age  he  lived  in.  That  man  best  serves  the  gener- 
ation following,  starts  it  off  upon  a  higher  plane,  who  serves  well 
his  own.  Pi-ovidence  indicates  herein  where  duty  lies.  The  gifts 
which  suit  one  age  may  not  suit  another.  The  peculiar  talents 
with  which  his  Maker  endowed  our  deceased  brother  he  used,  and 
none  others.  He  was  always  himself,  and  not  another  man— 
unique,  original,  strong,  and  fresh  to  the  last.     Thus  he  made  ex* 

(435) 


436  JOHN  B.  McFBRRIN. 

actly  the  contribution  to  the  welfare  of  the  world  that  was  needed 
—a  contribution  that  other  generations  may  not  need  in  the  same 
form  or  degree,  but  of  which  they  will  ever  be  the  beneficiaries. 

John  Berry  McFerrin  was  born  in  Rutherford  County,  Ten- 
nessee, June  15,  1807,  and  "fell  on  sleep"  at  his  home  in  Nash- 
ville, in  the  bosom  of  a  loved  and  loving  family,  at  12:55  o'clock 
A.m.,  May  10,  1SS7.  He  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent.  His  grand- 
father was  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  his  father,  James  McFer- 
rin, served  well  under  General  Jackson  in  the  War  of  1812.  Con- 
verted about  the  same  time  with  his  son,  James  McFerrin  became 
a  minister  and  a  member  of  the  Tennessee  Annual  Conference 
two  years  before  him;  and  after  efficient  service  died  in  the  prime 
of  life.  His  mother,  to  whom  he  owed,  and  delighted  to  acknowl- 
edge, much,  died  a  few  years  ago  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety- 
three. 

By  request  of  the  Conference,  Dr.  McFerrin  preached  in  Oc- 
tober, 1875,  a  semi-centennial  sermon  during  the  session  at  Shel- 
byville,  where,  in  1S25,  he  had  been  admitted  on  trial.  The  be- 
ginning of  his  spiritual  life,  and  its  principal  stages  of  activity, 
were  thus  stated  by  himself  in  that  discourse: 

On  the  20th  of  August,  1820,  I  was  converted  at  a  Methodist  prayer-meeting 
in  Rutherford  County,  Tennessee.  Two  weeks  afterward,  in  company  with  my 
father  and  mother,  I  united  with  the  Methodists.  This  was  a  surprise  to  our 
neighbors,  for  they  regarded  the  family  as  Presbyterian.  Soon  after  we  con- 
nected ourselves  with  the  Methodists  I  was  called  upon  to  pray  in  public.  When 
about  sixteen  years  of  age  I  was  appointed  a  class-leader.  My  father  having 
removed  to  Alabama,  and  erected  a  meeting-house  and  camp-ground  on  his  land, 
a  large  Society  was  soon  raised  up,  and  I  was  put  in  charge  as  the  principal 
leader.  August  1,  1824,  I  was  licensed  to  exhort  by  William  McMahon,  presid- 
ing elder  of  the  Huntsville  District,  my  father  being  the  preacher  in  charge  of 
the  circuit.  On  October  8,  1825, 1  was  licensed  to  preach.  The  next  month  I 
was  received  on  probation  into  the  Tennessee  Conference,  which  convened  in 
Shelby  ville,  Bishops  Roberts  and  Soule  presiding.  I  was  appointed,  with  Finch 
P.  Scruggs,  to  a  circuit  embracing  Tuscumbia,  Russellville,  and  the  counties  ad- 
jacent. [The  Tennessee  Conference  then  extended  into  North  Alabama.]  My 
second  year  was  to  the  Lawrence  Circuit,  embracing  Courtland,  Moulton,  De- 
catur, Somerville,  and  the  counties  around — Alexander  Sale  being  my  senior. 
At  the  end  of  this  year  I  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Soule.  My  third  and 
fourth  years  were  devoted  to  missionary  work  in  the  Cherokee  Nation.  At  the 
end  of  my  fourth  year  I  was  ordained  elder  by  Bishop  Roberts,  and  appointed, 
with  W.  L.  McAlister,  to  the  Limestone  Circuit,  embracing  the  country  west  of 
Huntsville,  in  Madison  County,  and  the  whole  of  Limestone  County,  Alabama, 
My  sixth  year  I  was  appointed  to  the  Huntsville  Station;  my  seventh  year  (1831) 
I  labored  in  the  Nashville  Station,  as  the  colleague  of  L.  D.  Overall.     My  eighth 


FUNERAL  SERMON.  437 


year  I  was  Agent  for  La  Grange  College.  In  1833  I  was  sent  to  Pulaski  Station, 
where  I  remained  two  years.  I  was  then  returned  to  Nashville;  then  to  the 
Florence  District;  then  two  years  to  the  Cumberland  District,  embracing  Gal- 
latin and  Clarksville;  back  again  to  Nashville;  and  in  the  autumn  of  1840  I  was 
elected  Editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate.  In  that  office  I  was  continued  till 
May,  1858,  when  I  was  elected  Book  Agent.  This  office,  with  the  appointment 
of  missionary  to  the  Army  of  Tennessee,  I  held  eight  years.  Since  1866  I  have 
been  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Missions.  Thus,  three  years  on  circuits,  two 
years  among  the  Indians,  six  years  in  stations,  three  years  presiding  elder,  near- 
ly eighteen  years  editor,  eight  years  Book  Agent  and  mis-ionary  to  the  army, 
and  nearly  nine  years  Secretary,  make  out  my  fifty  years. 

The  General  Minutes  for  1825  show,  in  other  Annual  Confer- 
ences of  the  Connection,  such  beginners  for  that  year  as  George 
C.  Cookman,  Levi  Scott,  Charles  M.  Hollidav,  Eugene  V.  Levert, 
George  M.  Roberts,  Edgerton  Ryerson,  and  others,  who,  after 
obtaining  a  good  report  through  faith,  have  been  so  long  dead 
that  they  seem  to  belong  to  another  generation.  Bishop  Soule, 
who  submitted  the  name  of  the  unknown  young  man  to  the  Con- 
ference for  acceptance,  was  then  on  his  second  episcopal  round. 
This  semi-centennial  sermon  takes  us  a  little  farther  back: 

When  I  united  with  the  Methodists  they  had  not  a  denominational  school  in 
operation  in  the  United  States.  In  1819  the  first  Missionary  Society  was  organ- 
ized in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  The  next  year  (1820),  the 
year  I  joined  the  Church,  the  receipts  were  $822.24.  In  1874  the  two  divisions 
collected  nearly  $900,000,  besides  the  hundreds  of  thousands  collected  in  other 
bodies  of  Methodism  in  America. 

In  1820  there  were  in  North  America  904  traveling  preachers,  256,881  white 
and  colored  members.  This  included  Canada.  I  have  lived  to  see  the  time 
when  the  same  Church,  in  her  twogrand  divisions,  leaving  off  Canada,  numbers  : 
Traveling  preachers,  14,330:  local  preachers,  18,062;  members,  2,262,285. 

These  items  help  us  to  realize  the  important  historic  space  cov- 
ered by  this  man's  life  and  ministry.  lie  was  no  idle  spectator  of 
what  was  passing,  but  had  a  hand  in  making  up  the  record  of  those 
eventful  years.  Beginning  with  that  held  in  Cincinnati,  in  1836, 
he  was  a  member  of  thirteen  General  Conferences  consecutively ; 
also  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  1845. 

On  his  first  coming  to  Nashville  (1S31)  the  Church  here  had 
four  hundred  and  two  white  members  and  three  hundred  and  five 
colored.  At  the  same  time  F.  A.  Owen  was  stationed  in  the  vil- 
lage of  Memphis,  on  the  Chickasaw  Bluffs;  Robert  Paine  was  for 
the  second  year  "  Superintendent  of  La  Grange  College;"  David 
O.  Shattuck  was  at  Brownsville,  A.  L.  P.  Green  at  Franklin,  and 


438  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

Fountain  E.  Pitts  on  the  Nashville  Circuit— the  two  last  named 
having  entered  Conference  a  year  before  him.  Referring  to  con- 
temporary events,  Andrew  Jackson  was  in  the  stormy  period  of 
his  first  presidential  administration;  James  K.  Polk  was  a  rising 
young  Congressman;  and  Andrew  Johnson,  the  great  commoner, 
having  learned  to  read  and  cipher  on  the  tailor's  board,  had  just 
been  elected  mayor  of  the  village  of  Greeneville.  The  waters  of 
Cumberland  River  were  occasionally  stirred  by  a  steam-boat,  af- 
fording rapid  transportation  to  New  Orleans  within  ten  days.  Not 
a  mile  of  macadamized  turnpike  existed  in  the  State,  while  rail- 
roads and  tunnels  were  not  dreamed  of. 

That  John  B.  McFerrin  was  an  important  factor  in  the  moral 
and  material  development  of  his  native  State  none  will  question. 
In  three  potent  ways  he  wrought,  for  sixty  years — by  the  pulpit, 
the  press,  and  the  platform — most  potent  of  all  ways;  and  he  was 
forceful  in  each.  Such  a  ministry,  it  is  readily  seen,  must  directly 
.and  permanently  influence  the  moral  character  of  the  public.  Its 
material  development  is  also  promoted  indirectly,  but  none  the 
less  powerfully,  by  the  same  agency.  Where  public  opinion  is 
right;  where  honesty,  truth,  and  social  purity  dwell,  there  life  and 
property  are  safe,  there  the  rewards  of  industry  are  sure,  there 
commerce  is  nourished  and  population  gathers.  It  is  impossible 
for  such  a  man  to  leave  the  world  no  better,  no  richer,  and  on  no 
higher  plane  than  he  found  it. 

He  has  not  merely  lived,  but  acted  through  two  generations  of 
rapid  transformations — inheriting  the  sturdy  strength,  the  simple 
manners,  the  energy  and  sagacity  of  the  first,  and  taking  on  no 
small  degree  of  the  breadth  and  culture  of  the  second.  To  the 
end  he  was  employed  in  great  trusts.  There  had  been  no  inter- 
mission, no  superannuation.  Such  was  his  diligence  that  he  was 
always  gaining  influence;  and  so  steady  and  prudent  was  he,  he 
never  lost  any.  No  Tennessean  was  more  loved  and  revered,  at 
home  or  abroad.  The  people  claimed  him  as  one  of  themselves. 
His  style,  address,  and  mode  of  thought  were  to  their  liking.  He 
impressed  them  as  an  honest  man;  they  believed  what  he  said; 
they  felt  his  sympathy;  and  they  followed  where  he  led  If  a 
politician,  he  would  have  been  unequaled  as  a  stump-speaker;  if 
a  demagogue,  he  would  have  been  dangerous;  in  either  character, 
invincible.  If  a  man  of  worldly  business,  he  would  have  been 
thrifty.     But,  by  the  grace  of  God,  he  was  none  of  these.     All  his 


FUNERAL  SERMON.  439 


zeal,  hopes,  labors,  and  aspirations  were  in  the  Church  and  for  the 
Church  He  turned  not  aside  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left 
He  was  simply  a  Methodist  preacher,  drawing  all  his  cares  and 

studies  this  way. 

Of  large  frame,  heavy  features,  and   standing  squarely  upon 
his  feet   Tohn  B.  McFerrin  was  the  typical  Western  man,  regener- 
ated by  Christianity.     His  education  began  in  the  old-field  schools 
of  bovhood,  and  was  continued  by  books  and  object-lessons  through 
life    "  His  cast  was  practical,  not  poetical  or  rhetorical-unhke  his 
eloquent  contemporary,  Pitts.     He  saw  things  as  a  whole,  no   in 
their  component  parts,  and  judged  of  their  relations  as  by  intui- 
tion.    Abstract  thought  was  a  weariness,  if  not  an  impossibility, 
to  him      The  power  was  not  his  of  considering  the  single  proper- 
ties and  qualities  of  things  apart,  of  analyzing  and  then  combin- 
ing them  to  new  forms,  thus  leading  to  invention.     He  was   there- 
fore, slow  to  admit  changes  of  any  sort.     In  these  respects  he  was 
unlike  his  great  contemporary,  Green.     He  was  against  all      new- 
fangled notions,"   and  constitutionally  conservative-perhaps  to 
excess      He  preferred  to  work  the  old  plans  and  to  get  the  best 
results  out  of  them.     An   innovation  must  be  clearly  safe  and 
very  clearly  an  improvement  before  he  could  accept  it. .He  could 
hardly  conceive  of  it  until  he  saw  it  in  operation.     ^  oe  to  the 
Sit  whom  he  encountered  when  defending  "Old  Method- 

iSUHis  attitude  toward  every  material  modification  of  Church 
economy  among  us  has  been,  first,  that  of  suspicion,  if  not  of 
do  bright  opposition  at  its  introduction.  When  adopted  he  put 
it  on  trial  and  watched  its  working;  then,  if  it  worked  wdl,  e  s- 
poused  it,  and  became  a  wall  of  defense  against  any  who  would 
disUirb  it.  That  caution  of  Solomon  he  habitually  observed. 
«  Meddle  not  with  them  that  are  given  to  change." 

~  Who  will  say  that  such  a  contribution  to  ecclesiastical  legisla- 
tion was  not  valuable  in  this  nineteenth  century  ? 
'"confidence  of  his  brethren  in  his  hone,.,-,  his  .nt„,.,ve  „- 
gacitv,  and  the  safety  horn  of  his  conservatism,  was  well  dlnst  a 
fd  in   this  city  during  the  Genera.  Conference  of  .S3      Anew 
rated  in  Publishing  House  matteis,  M  UK 


±S.ri?3^  Interest.     The  member  who  led  in  the 
"ed  scheme  was  bo,d  and  inventive  but  sligh, £*£££ 

Various  depositories  were  to  be  established,  and  agenc.es  here 


440  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

there,  to  enlarge  and  expand  the  circulation  of  religious  literature 
for  the  benefit  and  on  the  credit  of  the  Church.  The  measure 
passed,  and  it  was  generally  understood  that  the  author  of  it  was 
to  be  Book  Agent  to  carry  it  out,  and  that  certain  others  were  to 
occupy  subordinate  places.  But,  as  they  thought  over  what  they 
had  done,  members  became  afraid  of  their  plan ;  and  when  the 
election  came  on,  and  ballots  were  counted,  the  whole  slate  was 
broken  by  the  majority  of  votes  being  cast  for  J.  B.  McFerrin  as 
Book  Agent.  On  adjournment,  I  exchanged  views  with  a  vener- 
able member  on  the  unexpected  result,  and  his  remark  may  be 
taken  as  representative :  "  Well,  I  voted  for  that  plan,  but  the  more' 
I  thought  on  it  the  less  I  liked  it — too  complicated.  It  may  do 
finely,  and  then  again  it  may  ruin  every  thing.  But  McFerrin, 
Ave  know  him.  lie  can  pull,  and  if  it's  necessary  he  can  hold  back 
powerfully,  and  he  "will  hold  back  if  there's  danger." 

A  strange  sight  that  was — the  General  Conference  correcting, 
modifying,  and  almost  nullifying  its  dubious  legislation  by  put- 
ting one  man  in  charge  of  the  business  for  the  four  years  follow- 
ing. 

It  was  much  the  same  case  at  Atlanta  in  1S78.  We  had  lay 
delegates  then  to  help  us — a  help  Ave  had  not  twenty  jrears  before. 
But  after  fullest  investigation  of  liabilities  and  assets,  and  the  best 
legislative  contrivance,  there  Avas  painful  suspense  as  to  the  fate 
of  the  Publishing  House.  Again,  McFerrin  to  the  front.  Not 
that  he  Avas  fertile  in  invention,  but  he  could  be  relied  on  to  carry 
out  Avhatever  an  able  Book  Committee,  Avith  enlarged  powers,  de- 
vised. When  Mr.  Nathaniel  Baxter,  Jr.,  of  that  committee,  took 
me  aside  and  opened  the  four  per  cent,  bond  plan,  on  long  time,  I 
first  saAV  light.  The  United  States  Government  had  already 
adopted  the  plan  and  made  it  popular  and  familiar  to  the  people. 
But — how  to  place  the  bonds  for  $350,000!  Creditors  Avere  clam- 
orous, and  the  sheriff  Avas  at  the  door.  The  Church  could  not  re- 
pudiate just  debts.  Her  voice,  ever  after,  in  preaching  justice, 
honesty,  and  truth,  Avould  be  like  a  cracked  bell.  To  sacrifice 
present  assets,  and  leave  liabilities  unprovided  for,  was  to  entail 
worrying  collections  throughout  the  Connection  for  years,  and  so 
to  disgust  and  drive  aAvay  the  public  from  our  churches.  The 
prospect  Avas  gloomy  enough. 

With  a  well-matured  plan  Dr.  McFerrin  Avent  forth.  Noav 
was  his  pOAver  with  the  people  seen.     He  opened  the  campaign  at 


FUNERAL  SERMON.  441 

the  Western  Virginia  Conference,  then  one  of  our  smallest  and 
weakest.  I  heard  him  state  nis  case  and  present  his  plea,  and 
watched  the  effect  with  an  interest  I  can  not  describe.  It  was 
soon  evident  that  he  had  the  jury.  But  did  the  jury  have  the 
money?  He  rang  the  changes  on  old  Methodism  and  what  it  had 
done  for  them  and  for  their  fathers;  touched  up  their  patriotism 
by  allusions  to  losses  and  damages  through  the  war,  his  client  be- 
ing a  sufferer  in  common  with  themselves;  showed  that  relief  was 
possible,  and  failure  would  be  shameful.  He  enlivened  the  dis- 
cussion with  anecdote  and  clinched  it  with  argument,  and  at  the 
opportune  moment  offered  his  bonds.  Two  generous  farmers 
(brothers)  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ohio  took  a  thousand  dollars' 
worth  at  par.  Others  followed  with  less  sums;  and  the  preach- 
ers, as  they  always  do,  came  up  promptly  with  twenty  and  fifty 
and  a  hundred.  When  the  hand-shaking  was  over,  the  speaker 
looked  like  a  victor,  and  so  he  was.  From  that  day  I  never 
doubted  that  the  bonds  would  go  and  the  House  be  saved.  He 
pursued  the  campaign,  going  through  the  Conferences  until  the 
work  was  done.  Who  that  saw  and  heard  can  ever  forget  that 
dramatic  scene,  in  which  he  represented  the  Bishops  and  super- 
annuated and  other  preachers  and  their  wives,  and  the  official 
members,  all  assembled  on  the  Public  Square  of  Nashville,  and 
the  crier,  with  "  one,  two,  three — 1-a-s-t  call  " — swinging  down  his 
hammer  upon  the  Publishing  House  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South?  Those  who  heard  and  laughed  and  wept  said, 
"No,  that  must  never  be;"  and  they  took  the  bonds. 

Under  his  administration  as  Missionary  Secretary  a  debt  was 
paid  that  was  heavy  and  depressing  for  those  times.  And  yet,  the 
least  success  of  his  life  was  during  the  years  he  Avas  at  the  head 
of  the  Missionary  Bureau.  The  position  was  not  suited  to  him. 
Enterprising  new  fields,  and  selecting,  from  untried  men,  proper 
agents  for  opening  and  occupying  those  fields,  involved  experi- 
ment and  adventure;  and  he  was  not  adventurous.  The  changing 
aspects  of  times  and  places,  in  those  unsteady  years  from  1866  to 
1S78,  required  new  measures  and  expedients  to  meet  exigencies; 
and,  as  he  lacked  the  analytic  faculty,  invention  was  not  his 
forte.  True,  he  was  strong  on  the  platform ;  his  speeches  at  mis- 
sionary anniversaries  were  popular;  he  lifted  large  collections. 
But  imitation  is  the  homage  unconsciously  paid  to  genius,  and  the 
imitators  of  Dr.  McFerrin's  speeches,  though  numerous,  were  no* 


442  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 

successful  or  edifying.  A  broad  and  steady  missionary  movement 
in  the  Church  must  be  based  on  a  quickening  of  the  public  con- 
science; on  information,  rather  than  on  entertainment.  Not  one 
worker  that  crowds  a  house  upon  announcement  is  wanted,  but 
thousands  of  earnest  men  and  women  must  be  put  to  work  sys- 
tematically for  the  cause  where  no  applauding  audiences  greet 
the  advocate  of  Missions.  When  a  plan  was  devised  to  apportion 
the  old  war  debt  among  the  several  Annual  Conferences,  accord- 
ing to  an  accepted  ratio,  he  took  the  field  and  worked  it  so  well 
that  the  missionary  debt  was  paid. 

As  a  public  speaker  you  know  how  ready  and  effective  he  was. 
The  substance  of  discourse  was  sometimes  premeditated  in  para- 
graphs, but  not  the  words  or  style.  Stimulus  rather  than  prepa- 
ration was  what  he  required  for  success.  His  resources  were  at 
command.  He  took  hints  from  the  occasion,  and  the  suggestion 
of  circumstances  was  his  main  reliance.  Who  ever  saw  him, 
when  pressed  in  debate,  at  a  loss  for  a  reply  ?  The  more  he  was 
interrupted  the  more  he  was  at  himself.  Those  who  injected  ques- 
tions at  him  on  the  floor  made  nothing  by  it,  so  easily  could  he 
turn  every  thing  that  happened,  and  every  thing  that  was  said,  to 
his  own  advantage.  Whether  in  social  discussion  or  in  deliber- 
ative assemblies,  his  power  of  repartee  was  formidable.  Cicero's 
famous  treatise,  Dc  Oratorc,  puts  this  among  the  "  peculiar  gifts 
of  nature " — "  a  talent,"  says  the  master  of  Roman  eloquence, 
"  which  appears  to  be  incapable  of  being  communicated  by  teach- 
ing." Cicero,  after  discoursing  on  this  rare,  quick,  and  terrible 
weapon  of  the  orator  through  several  chapters,  and  making  on 
the  reader  the  impression  that  he  coveted  the  .gift  for  himself, 
adds:  "It  is  one  of  the  things  in  which,  unless  the  orator  has  a 
full  supply  from  nature,  he  can  not  be  much  assisted  by  a  master." 
If  John  B.  McFerrin  could  not  meet  an  argument,  he  parried  it  so 
skillfully  that  the  crowd  felt  that  he  had  met  it,  and  cheered  ac- 
cordingly. A  look,  an  attitude,  an  inflection  of  the  voice  did  the 
work  effectually.  A  facetious  remark,  or  pathetic  play  on  collat- 
eral issues,  was  unanswerable.  Sharp  wit,  overwhelming  drollery, 
unfailing  humor,  cheapened  the  adversary  or  broke  the  force  of  a 
logical  lance.  While  he  could  see  and  appreciate  the  strong  points 
of  his  cause,  and  could  strongly  urge  them,  he  did  not  always  re- 
sist the  temptation  to  win  victory  by  lighter  and  natural  auxiliaries. 
But  he  never  used  that  dangerous  weapon   maliciously.     Often 


FUNERAL  SERMON.  443 


his  own  hand  was  first  to  pour  in  oil  where  it  had  made  a  wound. 
He  was  naturally  cautious  and  modest,  and  jet  a  consciousness 
of  this  gift  made  him  bold. 

His  ministry  of  the  gospel  was  faithful  and  fruitful.  The  mis- 
sion among  the  Indians  was  like  a  golden  thread  of  poetry  worked 
into  his  early  life.  At  Chickamauga  and  Ross's  Landing,  where 
Chattanooga  now  stands;  at  the  junction  of  Etowah  and  Oosta- 
naula  Rivers,  where  Rome,  Georgia,  now  is;  and  at  Gunter's 
Landing,  were  his  principal  appointments.  I  remember  that  once 
we  ascended  Lookout  Mountain  together,  and  he  pointed  out,  with 
vivid  reminiscences,  some  scenes  of  his  mission  life  among  the 
Cherokees.  The  chief,  John  Ross,  he  baptized  and  received  into 
the  Church,  doubtless  with  the  same  simplicity  that  he  performed 
the  like  offices  for  ex-President  Polk  a  quarter  of  a  century  later. 
We  traveled  together  through  the  Indian  Nation  some  years  ago, 
visiting  the  Missions  west  of  the  Mississippi.  A  night  was  spent 
in  a  Cherokee  home.  The  mother  of  the  family,  who  was  also  a 
grandmother,  was  drawn  into  conversation.  Her  maiden  name 
was  Gunter,  born  on  the  Tennessee  River.  The  names  of  her 
father  and  brothers  were  given,  and  of  the  missionaries  who  had 
preached  to  them  before  they  left  the  "  Old  Nation  "  for  the  West- 
ern Reservation.  The  conversation  drew  on  to  the  climax  of 
mutual  recognition.  "Katie  Gunter,"  said  the  Missionary  Secre- 
tary, "don't  you  know  me?"  "  No,  sir."  "My  name  is  John  B. 
McFerrin."  The  Indian  woman  rested  her  hand  on  his  knee  for 
a  moment,  gazing  intently  into  his  face,  and  then,  in  an  abandon 
of  joy,  fell  upon  his  neck  and  wept  aloud.  She  was  one  of  his 
converts,  and  still  maintained  her  integrity. 

As  chaplain  in  the  army  he  Avas  very  useful.  A  stump  or  a 
wagon  served  as  his  ready  pulpit,  wherever  the  soldiers  halted  to 
rest  or  camp.  In  the  hospital,  or  on  the  march,  he  was  pastor, 
friend,  nurse.  Many  seals  to  his  ministry  bear  the  date  of  those 
sad  years.  He  introduced  me  at  one  session  of  an  Annual  Con- 
ference to  two  ministers,  efficient  and  promising  men,  saving: 
"  These  are  twocf  my  boys,  converted  while  Confederate  soldiers; 
and  there  are  a  heap  more  of  'em.  Halleluiah!  "  His  final  min- 
isterial service  was  at  the  funeral  of  the  late  Rev.  William  Burr, 
whom  he  bad  licensed  to  preach  forty-odd  years  ago.  It  was  a 
race  between  them,  like  that  of  Peter  and  John,  which  should  first 
reach  the  sepulcher.     They  lay  on  their  death-beds,  sending  mes> 


444  JOHN  B.  McFERRIN. 


sages  of  love  and  Christian  confidence  to  each  other  by  telephone. 
The  saintly  Burr  reached  the  grave  first,  and  his  aged  companion 
rallied  to  bury  him.  "  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a 
spiritual  body,"  saith  St.  Paul.  I  entertain  myself  with  thinking 
of  the  great  hand-shaking  that  has  been  going  on  in  paradise  since 
Brother  McFerrin  left  us,  as  he  greets  on'  the  other  shore  the 
thousands  who  have  been  awakened,  converted,  reclaimed,  edified, 
by  his  ministry,  and  helped  on  their  way  to  that  better  country 
where  now  he  has  joined  them.  His  old  companions  and  his 
spiritual  children  are  there  to  welcome  him  into  everlasting  hab- 
itations. White  people,  Negroes,  Indians,  the  small  and  the  great, 
are  there  enjoying  with  him  their  release  and  "  full  felicity." 

He  was  one  of  the  few  men  whose  preaching  improved  with 
time.  Borne  up  by  a  wonderful  constitution  and  will-power,  he 
went  around  attending  the  Annual  Conferences,  at  the  rate  of 
ten  or  twenty  a  year,  selling  books,  making  collections,  and  throw- 
ing off  those  inimitable  speeches  on  various  Church  interests,  of 
which  the  brethren  could  never  get  enough.  There  was  an  in- 
creasing unction.  Even  an  ordinary  business  notice,  in  his  latter 
days,  often  left  the  Conference  in  tears  and  raptures,  because  of 
the  spiritual  peroration  that  unconsciously  attached  itself  to  a  talk 
about  plain  dollar-and-cent  accounts.  Men  observed  that  he  was 
ripening  for  heaven.  Some  of  his  sermons  at  the  Conferences, 
these  last  dozen  years,  were  extraordinarily  melting.  He  kept  up 
the  habit  of  the  fathers — mixing  experience  with  the  exposition. 
His  stock  themes  were  sin,  repentance,  faith,  regeneration,  and 
salvation  for  all,  through  Jesus.  They  were  good  enough  for  him  ; 
and  his  exactness  of  definition  and  distinction  on  these  divine  top- 
ics was  to  the  last  a  grateful  surprise  to  those  who  crowded  to 
hear  him.  In  theology  he  held  that  what  was  new  was  not  true, 
and  what  was  true  was  not  new;  it  was  a  revelation  rather  than  a 
science.  Without  relaxing  diligence  in  earthly  things,  he  was 
coming  daily  more  and  more  under  the  influence  of  things  invis- 
ible and  eternal.  The  attraction  of  the  world  to  come  greAV  evi- 
dently stronger ;  his  speed  quickened  as  he  drew  near  the  end.  The 
personal  Saviour,  the  love  of  the  Spirit,  and  his  own  deeper  ex- 
perience of  grace,  were  themes  he  most  readily  fell  into  conversa- 
tion about. 

I  have  spoken  of  him  as  a  Tennessean,  because  his  native 
State,  I  dare  assert,  has  not  produced  a  man  better  known,  more 


FUNERAL  SERMON.  445 

beloved,  and  for  rare  combination  of  moral  and  mental  power  and 
wealth  of  character  his  superior.  But  far  beyond  the  lines  of 
his  State  and  Conference  he  was  esteemed.  In  the  great  synods 
of  the  Church  he  was  watchful  and  eminent.  He  represented 
American  Methodism  in  the  Ecumenical  Conference  which  met 
in  London  in  1SS1.  At  the  Centennial  in  Baltimore  in  1884 
Southern  Methodism  had  in  him  her  most  eminent  representa- 
tive. No  figure  in  that  body  of  five  hundred  holy  and  picked 
men  was  more  honorably  conspicuous,  no  voice  more  eagerly 
heard,  and  no  presence  more  respectfully  greeted  than  Dr.  Mc- 
Ferrin's.  He  was  selected  to  respond  to  the  address  of  welcome, 
and  met  that  and  every  occasion — whether  of  counsel,  discussion, 
banquet,  devotion,  or  farewell  greeting — with  prompt  and  felici- 
tous address.  To  him  it  was  a  joyous  occasion.  His  soul  over- 
flowed with  its  bountiful  fellowship. 

We  mourn  not  alone.  In  the  North  as  in  the  South,  in  Can- 
ada and  beyond  the  seas,  in  the  Foreign  Mission  stations  and 
along  the  wide  frontiers,  they  weep  with  us  to-day. 

He  grew  old  gracefully :  a  hard  test.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
old  age  is  itself  a  kind  of  day  of  judgment.  Now  begins  the  reaping 
of  what  has  been  sown;  now  begins  the  harvest  of  youth  and 
middle  life.  The  selfish  are  left  without  friends,  the  penurious 
are  devoured  by  full-grown  avarice,  the  meanly  ambitious  are  em- 
bittered by  disappointment,  and  all  evil  passions  and  habits  con- 
sume their  victim  in  a  helpless  old  age.  Pitiable  sight!  But  not 
so  with  one  who  has  not  lived  to  himself.  "At  evening  time  there 
shall  be  light."  The  temper  mellows;  peace  flows  as  a  river; 
children  and  friends  crown  the  hoary  head  with  love  and  rever- 
ence; temperate  habits,  chastened  passions,  and  Christian  hopes 
smooth  the  present  and  throw  their  light  on  the  future.  Even 
those  alienations  caused  by  conflicting  interests  and  honest  differ- 
ences of  opinion  with  our  fellow-men  find  an  end  in  the  vindica- 
tions of  time,  for  "when  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord,  he  mak- 
eth  even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him." 

Our  deceased  brother  had  a  happy  old  age.  "  I  will  not,  the 
Lord  helping  me,  become  sour  and  sore-headed,"  he  once  said 
to  me,  on  observing  the  case  of  a  friend  who  acidulated  as  he 
aged.  Then,  bending  half  down,  removing  his  hat,  and  showing 
the  full  crown  of  his  bald  head,  "  Do  you  see  any  sore  place 
there  ?  "     If  he  spent  a  few  days  as  the  Conference  guest  with  a 


446  JOHN  B   McFERKlN. 

family,  it  was  an  era  with  that  household,  including  children  and 
servants. 

The  Lord  blessed  his  servant  in  his  home  life.  In  1833  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Probart.  Their  married  life  was  blessed  with  six 
children,  three  of  whom  survive.  Mrs.  McFerrin  died  while  her 
husband  was  attending  the  session  of  the  General  Conference  in 
Columbus,  Georgia,  in  May,  1854. 

He  was  again  married  to  Miss  McGavock,  a  member  of  the 
family  of  McGavocks  so  well  known  in  Virginia  and  Middle  Ten- 
nessee. Of  this  marriage  were  born  two  daughters.  These  five 
children,  with  nineteen  grandchildren,  made  his  domestic  life  com- 
plete. In  1880  the  oldest  son,  James  W.,  was  suddenly  killed  in 
a  railroad  accident.  He  was  a  noble  young  man.  The  father 
was  visiting  a  Conference  in  Texas  when  the  sad  news  reached 
him.  The  "  stroke  was  heavier  than  his  complaint."  In  the  last 
few  delirious  days  he  was  overheard  talking  with  "Jimmy."  All 
his  children  and  grandchildren  of  twelve  years  and  upward  are 
members  of  the  Methodist  Church.  Wife  and  children,  sons-in- 
law  and  daughters-in-law  within  the  fold;  all  his  business  wound 
up  and  papers  signed;  the  new  church  under  roof  where  his  fam- 
ily worship;  the  Publishing  House  safe;  and  seventy-five  thou- 
sand members  added  to  the  Church  this  year — he  was  ready  to 
say,  with  Simeon:  "  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace." 

Over  a  year  ago  he  was  sick,  as  was  thought,  unto  death. 
When  doctors  and  nurses  gave  him  up  he  persisted  that  though 
it  might  be  so  that  he  was  going  to  die  he  did  not  feel  as  he  had 
supposed  a  dying  man  would.  His  work  was  not  yet  done.  He 
strangely  recovered.  But  when  this  last  sickness  came  he  held  a 
different  language.  "  My  work  seems  to  be  done;  my  eyes  and  my 
hearing  fail;  the  old  tabernacle  is  giving  way."  The  Master  was 
closing  the  doors  and  shutting  the  windows,  thus  saying  to  his 
seivant:  "Arise  and  depart,  for  this  is  not  your  rest."  He  took 
the  warning  kindlv.  The  prospect  was  unclouded.  Indeed,  he 
remarked  to  me  that  his  trouble  now  was  to  keep  from  being  im- 
patient to  go.  The  language  of  his  soul  was:  "Now,  Lord,  what 
wait  I  for?     My  hope  is  in  thee." 

I  found  him  one  day  rejoicing  over  a  portion  of  Holy  Script- 
ure that  had  been  read  to  him  by  a  preceding  visitor  (fourth  and 
fifth  chapters  of   Second  Corinthians.)     "  I  understand  it  better 


FUNERAL  SERMON. 


447 


than  ever.  Portions  of  the  Bible  come  back  to  me  that  I  had  for- 
gotten."    And  he  fed  on  that  word. 

'  At  another  time  I  found  his  son  reading  hymns  to  him  out  of 
the  Unabridged  Hymn-book,  and  he  would  have  me  read  a  few 
that  he  indicated  by  subject  or  title.     Among  them : 

Lo,  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 

'  Twixt  two  unbounded  seas  I  stand. 

And  this:  ,  .    , 

Rise,  my  soul,  and  stretch  thy  wings 

Thy  better  portion- trace. 
Then,  gathering  in  the  family,  he  asked  that 

And  let  this  feeble  body  fail, 
And  let  it  droop  or  die, 

be  sung  to  a  familiar  tune.  It  was  done,  his  nephew  leading.  At 
the  conclusion  of  the  stanza, 

Give  joy  or  grief,  give  ease  or  pain, 

Take  life  or  friends  away— 
I  come  to  find  them  all  again 
In  that  eternal  day, 

he  praised  God  and  exulted.  "  Nothing  like  our  old  hymns,"  he 
exclaimed.  "  I  hope  the  Committee  [on  Revision  of  the  Hymn- 
book,  then  in  session]  will  spare  those  dear  old  hymns  on  doc- 
trine and  experience  that  the  Wesleys  gave  us."  This  charge  he 
gave  me,  with  emphasis:  "Those  little  songs  about  'Sweet  by 
and  bv'  and  'Shall  we  know  each  other  there?'  and  the  like, 
may  all  be  very  nice,  but  don't  you  let  any  of  them  be  sung  at  my 

funeral."  } 

His  last  sermon  was  preached  in  Arkansas,  near  his  mother  s 
grave,  to  which,  with  filial  piety,  he  had  made  pilgrimage.  (Text: 
i  Cor.  xv.  58.)  He  has  helped  to  build  and  pay  out  of  debt  many 
churches  for  others.  His  last  begging  speech  was  made  in  this 
pulpit,  for  help  to  build  the  church  in  which  he  and  his  family 
worship.  His  last  contribution  to  the  press  was  an  article  in  the 
Christian  Advocate,  insisting  on  the  value  of  a  systematic  state- 
ment of  theology  and  vindicating  creeds.  He  has  been  as  an  anchor 
to  many  who  were  readv  to  drift  before  every  wind  of  doctrine. 
Eminent  service  he  rendered  his  generation  at  this  point.  May 
there  be  no  need  of  such  service  in  the  future! 

I  have  spoken  of  him  as  a  Methodist.  In  a  high  sense  he  be- 
longed to  all  Christ's  people.  With  Charles  Wesley  he  could  say: 


448  FUNERAL  SERMON. 

And  fellowship  with  all  we  hold 
Who  hold  it  with  our  Head. 

He  loved  Methodism,  her  creed  and  polity;  but  he  loved,  and 
was  beloved  by,  members  of  other  Churches  as  few  men  have 
been. 

May  2  he  called  his  son-in-law,  the  presiding  elder  of  the  Mur- 
freesboro  District,  to  his  bedside  to  receive  a  last  message  to  the 
Tennessee  Conference: 

"Tell  them  to  hold  fast  to  our  articles  of  belief — justification 
by  faith,  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  and  holiness  of  heart  and  life. 

"Tell  them  I  forgive  all  who  may  have  injured  me  at  any  time, 
and  I  ask  forgiveness  if  at  any  time  I  have  wounded  a  brother. 
Evil  may  have  followed  where  evil  was  not  intended;  if  so,  I 
ask  forgiveness. 

"  I  love  the  Tennessee  Conference.  I  die  in  peace  with  them 
and  all  men,  and  in  the  faith  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in 
the  love  of  God,  and  in  expectation  of  eternal  life."  Again :  "  Tell 
the  brethren  I  love  every  one  of  them." 

His  words  two  weeks  ago  to  his  son,  who  has  charge  of  a 
circuit  twenty  miles  away,  and  had  been  summoned  to  see  him 
die,  are  most  expressive  of  character:  "  My  son,  I  feel  a  little 
stronger,  and  you  had  better  return  and  fill  your  appointment  to- 
morrow. If,  while  you  are  away,  John,  I  should  happen  to  slip 
off,  you  know  where  to  find  me." 

He  has  gone,  my  friends  and  brethren;  we  shall  behold  him 
no  more  in  this  world.  He  has  gone;  we  ne'er  shall  see  his  like 
again.  John  B.  McFerrin  lias  gone;  but  you  know  where  to 
find  him.     Amen. 


.  -  . : 


0035521503 


BRITTLE  DO  NOT 
PHOTOCOPY 


•nC  2 


